Hociel Thomas

Hociel Thomas (July 10, 1904 – August 22, 1952) was an American blues singer in the classic female blues style.

She was born in Houston, Texas. Her father, George W. Thomas, was a musician, songwriter, and music publisher.[1] About 1916 she relocated to New Orleans, Louisiana to live with her aunt, the blues singer Sippie Wallace.[1] She began performing, often with Sippie Wallace, at local parties and in the Storyville red-light district. She moved to Chicago ca. 1924, where she worked in local clubs and theatres until the early 1930s. In 1925 she recorded for Gennett Records, and in 1925–26 she recorded several sides for the Okeh label. Her accompanists on the Okeh recordings included Louis Armstrong and her teenaged uncle Hersal Thomas, whose piano is heard on "Fish Tail Dance"[2] and four other sides.

During the years of the Great Depression her career diminished, and she worked outside the field of music. In the early 1940s she moved to Oakland, California.[1] In 1946 she recorded seven songs with Mutt Carey for the Circle label, which were her last recordings.[3] She worked with Kid Ory's Orchestra in San Francisco In 1948.[1]

In 1948 or 1949, she engaged in a brawl with one of her sisters in which she lost her eyesight and her sister was killed. Charged with manslaughter, she was tried and acquitted.[4] She died of heart disease on August 22, 1952.[4]

References
  1. Harris, Sheldon (1994). Blues Who's Who (Revised Ed.). New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80155-8. p. 507
  2. Oliver, Paul, Max Harrison, and William Bolcom (1986). The New Grove gospel, blues, and jazz, with spirituals and ragtime. New York: Norton. p. 52. ISBN 039301696X
  3. Hociel Thomas biography at Allmusic.com
  4. Harris, Sheldon (1994). Blues Who's Who (Revised Ed.). New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80155-8. p. 508
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