Lucille Bogan
Major Works
- Shave 'Em Dry
- Tricks Ain't Walkin' No More
- Bo-Easy Blues
- Sloppy Drunk
- Black Angel
- Women Don't Need Men
- Sweet Patunia
- Red Cross Store
- Troubled Mind
- Baking Powder Blues
Listen to "Bo-Easy
Blues" (114 k, 10 sec.)
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Lucille Bogan: A Biography
By Jamie Buehler (SHS)
"Born Lucille Armstrong in Amory,
Mississippi, on April 1, 1897, she remained true to her roots as a
blues stylist" (MSAlmanac). Lucille Bogan was raised in Birmingham,
Alabama (BFC). According to the Blue Flame Cafe web site,
"Little is known of her early life until 1923, when she made her first
recordings for the Okeh Label in New York" (BFC). Bogan also
recorded for the Paramount and Brunswick labels in the 1920's after she
moved to Chicago (BFC). "Lucille Bogan may be best known for writing
and singing Shave 'Em Dry (BFC). Bogan was considered by many to
be the toughest female blues singer of the pre-war era (GEPM). 
As early as 1923, Bogan started recording
but never worked in a true jazz band atmosphere (GEPM). After a shaky
first recording session, her voice deepened, and by 1927 she was doing
well singing blues(?). In her recordings, she sang about prostitution
(Tricks ain't Walking' No More), lesbianism, alcoholism
(Sloppy Drunk Blues), and abusive men (Women Don't Need Men)
(BFC). Bogan's lyrics often had sexual themes. (BFC) Many of Bogan's
songs were written from the point of view of a street-walker
(GEPM). From 1933 to 1935, she recorded many
of the songs she was best known for like Bo Easy Blues and Shave
'Em Dry (BFC). She used the pseudonym Bessie Jackson from
1933 to 1935 (BFC). She expressed herself fluently in her music but
sometimes obscenely, as in one session in 1936 (GEPM).
Bogan utilized "a string of gifted pianists including Cow Cow Davenport,
Will Ezell and, particularly, Walter Roland" (GEPM); at other times she
had as her accompaniment a more 'countrified' group,
including guitars or even banjos (GEPM).
Bogan was married to Nazareth Bogan
and was the mother of two children (GEPM). After ARC didn't renew
her contract, Bogan returned to Birmingham (BFC). "Sometime in the
late 1930's to early 1940's, she moved to the West Coast (BFC). "After
her own
career ended, she managed Bogan's Birmingham Busters,
a group organized by her son" (GEPM). Bogan died of coronary
sclerosis in Los Angeles in August of 1948 (GEPM).
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Timeline
1897- Born in Amory, Mississippi
1923- Made her first recordings with the Okeh label in
New York
1927- Voice deepened and started her rise to fame
1927- Wrote Women Don't Need
Men
1930- Wrote Tricks Ain't Walkin' No More, Sloppy
Drunk Blues, Black angel
1933- Wrote Baking Powder Blues, Red Cross
Store, Trouble Minded
1935- ARC contract was not renewed
1935- Wrote Shave 'Em Dry, Bo-East Blues,
1935- Bogan disappeared from the Blues scene
1936- Bogan's obscene recording session
1948- Died in Los Angeles of coronary sclerosis
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Related Websites
Site lists of many of Bogan's songs and publishing dates
This
site provides additional information about some of Bogan's songs.
Find here
a short biography of Lucille Bogan.
Delta Haze Corporation is the parent
company of a number of entities engaged in the preservation and promotion
of traditional American blues, jazz and superior popular song.
Very
short biography of Lucille Bogan is available here.
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Bibliography
Cox, James, "Lucille Bogan", Mississippi Musicians Almanac,
1997, 111.
Colin Larkin, "Lucille Bogan", The Guiness Encyclopedia Of Popular
Music, Vol. 1, 1994.
Hawkings, Walter, "Lucille Bogan", African American Biographies, 1994, 481.
"Lucille Bogan" Online. Available http://www.blueflamecafe.com/Lucille_Bogan.html
"Lucille Bogan" Online. Available http://www.eyeneer.com/America/Genre/Blues/Profiles/lucille.bogan.htm
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