Annisteen Allen (November 11, 1920 – August 10, 1992) was an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

and jazz singer. Born Ernestine Letitia Allen in Champaign, Illinois, United States, her first recordings were made in 1945, and included "Miss Annie's Blues" and " Love for Sale." She sang with

Big John Greer John Marshall "Big John" Greer (November 21, 1923 – May 12, 1972)
- accessed September 2011 was an American Wynonie Harris Wynonie Harris (August 24, 1915 – June 14, 1969) was an American blues shouter and rhythm-and-blues singer of upbeat songs, featuring humorous, often ribald lyrics. He had fifteen Top 10 hits between 1946 and 1952. Harris is attributed by ma ...

, and Lucky Millinder. In 1951,

Federal Records Federal Records was an American record label founded in 1950 as a subsidiary of Syd Nathan's King Records and based in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was run by famed record producer Ralph Bass and was mainly devoted to Rhythm & Blues releases. The comp ...

signed her to sing with Millinder's orchestra. She scored other hits with Millinder such as " I'll Never Be Free", "Let It Roll", "I'm Waiting Just for You" (written by

Carolyn Leigh Carolyn Leigh (August 21, 1926 – November 19, 1983) was an American lyricist for Broadway, film, and popular songs. She is best known as the writer with partner Cy Coleman of the pop standards "Witchcraft" and "The Best Is Yet to Come". With ...

and Henry Glover), "Moanin' the Blues", "I Want a Man," and "More, More, More." Federal's parent company, King Records, acquired her in 1953. Her single, "Baby I'm Doin' It," released in 1953 appeared on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' R&B

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

(No. 8). After releasing the single, Apollo Records sued King for copyright infringement, and as a result King dropped her from its roster. She then signed with

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

and did tours with Joe Morris and

The Orioles The Orioles were an American R&B group of the late 1940s and early 1950s, one of the earliest such vocal groups who established the basic pattern for the doo-wop sound. The Orioles are generally acknowledged as R&B's first vocal group. Baltim ...

. In 1955, she scored a hit in the US with "Fujiyama Mama." The track was later covered by

Eileen Barton Eileen Barton (November 24, 1924 – June 27, 2006) was an American singer best known for her 1950 hit song, "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake." Early years Barton was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her birthdate is often given as 1 ...

and then by Wanda Jackson. Allen became a solo artist in the 1960s. Annisteen Allen died in Harlem, New York City at age 71. Josh Binney filmed her performing "Let it Roll" with Lucky Millinder in 1948.

Discography

As leader/co-leader

*1961: ''Let it Roll'' (Tru-Sound) - (as Ernestine Allen) with King Curtis, Al Casey, Belton Evans and Chauncey Westbrook

References

Bibliography

*Komara, Edward (ed.) (2005), ''Encyclopedia of the Blues'', Routledge, 1920 births 1992 deaths American blues singers Singers from Illinois 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women singers {{US-singer-stub