Victoria Spivey

Victoria Spivey
Birth nameVictoria Regina Spivey
Born(1906-10-15)October 15, 1906
Houston, Texas, U.S.
DiedOctober 3, 1976(1976-10-03) (aged 69)
New York City
GenresBlues
Occupation(s)Musician, singer, songwriter
Instrument(s)Vocals, piano
Labels

Victoria Regina Spivey (October 15, 1906 – October 3, 1976),[1][2] sometimes known as Queen Victoria,[3] was an American blues singer, songwriter, and record company founder. During a recording career that spanned 40 years, from 1926 to the mid-1960s, she worked with Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Clarence Williams, Luis Russell, Lonnie Johnson, and Bob Dylan.[4] She also performed in vaudeville and clubs, sometimes with her sister Addie "Sweet Peas" (or "Sweet Pease") Spivey (August 22, 1910 – 1943),[5] also known as the Za Zu Girl. Among her compositions are "Black Snake Blues" (1926), "Dope Head Blues" (1927), and "Organ Grinder Blues" (1928). In 1961, she co-founded Spivey Records with one of her husbands, Len Kunstadt.

  1. ^ "Victoria Spivey Papers". Emory Libraries. June 9, 2006. Retrieved March 2, 2012.
  2. ^ "MC 057: Guide to the Victoria Spivey Collection, 1925–1940, 1961–1976, Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University". Scc.rutgers.edu. October 2013. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
  3. ^ Gates, Henry Louis, Cary D. Wintz, and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. 2009. Harlem Renaissance Lives: from the African American National Biography. United Kingdom, Oxford University Press. p. 469. ISBN 0195387953
  4. ^ Skelly, Richard. "Victoria Spivey: Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved March 2, 2012.
  5. ^ Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 2346. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.