Representative Albums: "Queen Mother of the Rue Royale," "Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 3 (1928-39)," "Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 2 (1923-28)"
Representative Songs: "I Hate a Man Like You," "Basin Street Blues," "My Dif'rent Kind of Man"
Biography
Lizzie Miles was a fine classic blues singer from the 1920s who survived to have a full comeback in the 1950s. She started out singing in New Orleans during 1909-1911 with such musicians as King Oliver, Kid Ory, and Bunk Johnson. Miles spent several years touring the South in minstrel shows and playing in theaters. She was in Chicago during 1918-1920 and then moved to New York in 1921, making her recording debut the following year. Her recordings from the 1922-1930 period mostly used lesser-known players, but Louis Metcalf and King Oliver were on two songs apiece and she recorded a pair of duets with Jelly Roll Morton in 1929. Miles sang with A.J. Piron and Sam Wooding, toured Europe during 1924-1925, and was active in New York during 1926-1931. Illness knocked her out of action for a period, but by 1935, she was performing with Paul Barbarin, she sang with Fats Waller in 1938, and recorded a session in 1939. Lizzie Miles spent 1943-1949 outside of music, but in 1950 began a comeback, often performing with Bob Scobey or George Lewis during her final decade. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
Miles was born in the Faubourg Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana, in a dark skinned FrancophoneCreole ("Creole of Color") family. She traveled widely with minstrel and circus shows in the 1910s, and made her first phonographrecordings in New York of blues songs in 1922—although Miles did not like to be referred to as a 'blues singer', since she sang a wide repertory of music.
In the mid 1920s she spent time performing in Paris before returning to the United States. She suffered a serious illness and retired from the music industry in the 1930s. In the 1940s she returned to New Orleans, where Joe Mares encouraged her to sing again—which she did, but always from in front of, or beside the stage, since she said she had vowed in a prayer not to go on stage again if she recovered from her illness. Miles was based in San Francisco, California in the early 1950s, then again returned to New Orleans where she recorded with several Dixieland and traditional jazz bands and made regular radio broadcasts, often performing with Bob Scobey or George Lewis.[1]
In 1958 Miles appeared at the Monterey Jazz Festival. In 1959 she quit singing, except for gospel music. She died in New Orleans in 1963.
Her half sister Edna Hicks was also a blues singer.
