Born Umpeylia Marsema Balinton, Sugar Pie DeSanto was given her stage name as well as her recording debut by rhythm & blues ubermensch Johnny Otis. Although typecast as a blues singer, she also took care of business on the soul end of things and was a convincing jazz vocal stylist as well. That would be enough to gain most singers a reasonable slice of glory, but DeSanto also happened to be a hilarious comedienne, a show-stopping dancer, and a superb and highly original songwriter whose compositions were cut by Fontella Bass, Billy Stewart, Little Milton, Bobby McClure, Minnie Riperton, Jesse James, the Dells, and the Whispers.
Otis discovered her performing at the Ellis Theater, the venue which she felt was sort of a birthing ground for her musical style. He dropped by one of the venue’s regular talent shows only to observe DeSanto walking off with first prize. He promptly offered her a contract to come to Los Angeles to cut her first record ever. From the late ’50s onward, she performed regularly at rhythm & blues havens such as the Apollo in New York, the Regal in Chicago, and the Howard in Washington, D.C. At the Apollo, she made quite an impression on the so-called “Godfather of Soul,” James Brown, leading to her becoming his opening act for two years.
In 1964, DeSanto was the only female performer on a touring American Folk Blues Festival bill with a lineup that would make a blues fan soak the concert program with drool, including Willie Dixon, Sleepy John Estes, Clifton James, Sunnyland Slim, Hubert Sumlin, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and Sonny Boy Williamson II, also known as Rice Miller. She wrote some 100 songs and preferred to perform her own material. On a series of four excellent compact discs she recorded on the Jasman label, only two songs are not written by her. Classic Sugar Pie, released in 1997, was the first full-length live recording by this artist whose on-stage workout always totally bypassed her record releases in terms of creativity and intensity. The recording revealed that advancing age wouldn’t stop her from continuing to expand her talent base, as she branched out into country & western. DeSanto died on December 20, 2024, at the age of 89.
by Eugene Chadbourne
Appetizers
