Esther Phillips - The Best of Little Esther (1951-1953)

Esther Mae Jones began singing in church as a young child. When her parents divorced, she split time between her father in Houston and her mother in the Watts area of Los Angeles. It was while she was living in Los Angeles in 1949 that her sister entered her in a talent show at a nightclub belonging to bluesman Johnny Otis. So impressed was Otis with the 13-year-old that he brought her into the studio for a recording session with Modern Records and added her to his live revue. Billed as Little Esther, she scored her first success when she was teamed with the vocal quartet the Robins (who later evolved into the Coasters) on the Savoy single ‘Double Crossin' Blues.’ It was a massive hit, topping the R&B charts in early 1950 and paving the way for a series of successful singles bearing Little Esther's name. In 1951, Little Esther moved from Savoy to Federal after a dispute over royalties, but despite being the brightest female star in Otis' revue, she was unable to duplicate her impressive string of hits. Furthermore, she and Otis had a falling out, reportedly over money, which led to her departure from his show. The 32 tracks on this set include many of the tracks she recorded with Otis from this period as well as recordings up until 1953 with other combos. After battles with heroin she re-emerged in 1961 as Esther Phillips and was later to have huge international hits for Atlantic, Kudu, Columbia and Mercury. But that is another story - maybe a good one for future posts! ~ http://www.artistdirect.com/

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