Mattie Hite (sometimes spelled Matie Hite; c. 1890 – c. 1935) 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 ...

singer in the

classic female blues Classic female blues was an early form of blues music, popular in the 1920s. An amalgam of traditional folk blues and urban theater music, the style is also known as vaudeville blues. Classic blues were performed by female singers accompanied by ...

style.

Life and career

Little is known about her family background except that she may have been a niece of the bandleader and saxophonist

Les Hite Les Hite (February 13, 1903 – February 6, 1962) was an American jazz bandleader. Life and career Born in DuQuoin, Illinois, United States, Hite attended the University of Illinois and played saxophone with family members in a band in the 1920s. ...

. Her birthplace is unknown, but

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

has been suggested.Harris 1994, p. 231. Around 1915 she moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, where she sang at the Panama Club, often with such performers as

Alberta Hunter Alberta Hunter (April 1, 1895 – October 17, 1984) was an American jazz and blues singer and songwriter from the early 1920s to the late 1950s. After twenty years of working as a nurse, Hunter resumed her singing career in 1977. Early life Hu ...

, Cora Green, and

Florence Mills Florence Mills (born Florence Winfrey; January 25, 1896 – November 1, 1927), billed as the "Queen of Happiness", was an American cabaret singer, dancer, and comedian. Life and career Florence Mills (Florence Winfrey) was born a daughter of for ...

. In 1919 she returned to New York City, where she worked in cabarets, singing at many nightspots, including Barron Wilkin's Astoria Cafe and

Pod's and Jerry's Pod's and Jerry's, officially the Catagonia Club, was a cabaret and jazz club on 133rd Street in Harlem, New York City. It was one of the thriving speakeasies during the Prohibition era when the street was known as "Swing Street". It was establ ...

. Hite recorded in 1921 for

Victor Records The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer that operated independently from 1901 until 1929, when it was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and subsequently operated as a subsidi ...

, but the result was unissued. She recorded again in 1923 with

Fletcher Henderson James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson (December 18, 1897 – December 29, 1952) was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. He was one of the most prolific black musi ...

for the

Pathé Pathé or Pathé Frères (, styled as PATHÉ!) is the name of various French people, French businesses that were founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France starting in 1896. In the early 1900s, Pathé became the world's largest ...

label, in 1923 and 1924 for the

Bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inter ...

label, and in 1930 with Cliff Jackson for the Columbia label. From 1928 to 1932 she appeared in various revues at the Lafayette Theater in New York City. She is thought to have died in New York City in about 1935. The blues writer Derrick Stewart-Baxter wrote in 1970 that "according to Frankie "Half Pint" Jaxon, itewas a long, tall woman, who flavored her act with some extremely risqué songs".

James P. Johnson James Price Johnson (February 1, 1894 – November 17, 1955) was an American pianist and composer. A pioneer of stride piano, he was one of the most important pianists in the early era of recording, and like Jelly Roll Morton, one of the key ...

considered Hite "one of the greatest cabaret singers of all time". She was known especially for her version of " St. James' Infirmary".Stewart-Baxter 1970, p. 96. Hite's complete recordings were reissued in CD format by

Document Records Document Records is an independent record label, founded in Austria and now based in Scotland, that specializes in reissuing vintage blues and jazz. The company has been recognised by The Blues Foundation, being honoured with a Keeping the ...

on ''Female Blues Singers, Volume 9: H2 (1923–1930) Complete Recorded Works & Supplements'' (DOCD-5513).

Nellie Hite

The singer Nellie Hite, who recorded two sides in 1923 for

label, may be Mattie Hite or her sister.

Notes

References

* Harris, Sheldon (1994). ''Blues Who's Who'' (rev. ed.). New York: Da Capo Press. . *Stewart-Baxter, Derrick. 1970. ''Ma Rainey and the Classic Blues Singers''. London: Studio Vista. .

External links

"St. Joe's Infirmary-Mattie Hite"
YouTube. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hite, Mattie Classic female blues singers American blues singers Columbia Records artists Vaudeville performers 1890s births 1930s deaths Year of birth uncertain Year of death uncertain 20th-century African-American women singers