Lil Green
Template:Infobox musical artist
Lil Green (probably born Lillie May Johnson; December 22, 1901<ref name="bare">Template:Cite book</ref> (some sources give 1905, 1910 or 1919)Template:Refn – April 14, 1954)<ref name="amg">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> was an American classic female blues singer and songwriter. She was among the leading female rhythm and blues singers of the 1940s, with a sensual soprano voice. Gospel singer R.H. Harris lauded her voice, and her interpretation of religious songs.<ref name = "JazzBluesEncyclopedia">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
Life and careerEdit
Originally named Lillian Green or Lillie May Johnson,<ref name="bare"/> she was born in Mississippi. After the early deaths of her parents, she began performing in her teens and, having honed her craft in the church performing gospel, she sang in Mississippi jukes, before heading to Chicago, Illinois, in 1929, where she would make all of her recordings.<ref name="russell">Template:Cite book</ref>
Green was noted for superb timing and a distinctively sinuous voice. In the 1930s, she and Big Bill Broonzy had a nightclub act together.<ref name="amg"/> In 1940, she recorded her first session for the Bluebird budget subsidiary label of RCA Victor. Her two biggest hits were her own composition "Romance in the Dark" (1940),<ref name="Russell 2">Template:Cite book</ref> which was later covered by many artists, such as Dinah Washington and Nina Simone (in 1967) (Billie Holiday recorded a different song with the same title), and Green's 1941 version of Kansas Joe McCoy's minor-key blues- and jazz-influenced song "Why Don't You Do Right?",<ref name="Russell 2"/> which was recorded by Peggy Lee in 1942 and by many others since.<ref name="russell"/> As well as performing in Chicago nightclubs, Green toured with Tiny Bradshaw and other bands but never broke away from the black theatre circuit.<ref name="oldies">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
By 1949, Green had changed direction with the foresight to become a jazz vocalist, and tried to emulate the jazz style of Billie Holiday. She signed with Atlantic Records in 1951, but at this point was already in poor health.<ref name="oldies"/> She died of pneumonia in Chicago in April 1954 and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, in Gary, Indiana.<ref name=reader/>