Wilhelmina Madison Goodson, known professionally as Billie Pierce, was an American jazz pianist and singer, who performed and recorded with her husband De De Pierce.
14 Facts About Billie Pierce
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Billie Pierce's style has been described as a "potent mixture of barrelhouse, boogie-woogie, and ragtime".
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Billie Pierce was one of six piano-playing sisters whose father, Madison H Goodson, and mother, Sarah Jenkins Goodson, played the piano.
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Billie Pierce was about ten years old, she and her sisters would go down to the Belmont Theatre to listen to Ma Rainey, Ida Cox, and Bessie Smith when they passed through Pensacola, Florida.
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Billie Pierce was almost thirteen, Bessie Smith passed through town again.
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Billie Pierce subbed in to played piano with Bessie Smith for two weeks at the Belmont Theatre.
7.
At the age of 15, Billie Pierce began playing piano professionally.
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Billie Pierce toured more widely with the Mighty Wiggle Carnival, Joe Jesse's orchestra, and her own touring review.
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Billie Pierce performed at the Blue Jay Club, where she met trumpeter De De Pierce, who at the time was playing with a band led by Billie's sister at Mama's and Papa's, a nearby club.
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Billie Pierce first recorded with Emile Barnes in 1946 and under her own name in 1953.
11.
Billie and De De Pierce played with their own ensemble, which served as the house band at Luthjen's Dance Hall on and off for 24 years.
12.
De De lost his vision due to glaucoma in the 1950s around the same time that Billie Pierce suffered a stroke, which paralyzed her for several months, putting a temporary hold on their career.
13.
Billie Pierce was a regular on the New Orleans jazz scene in the 1950s through the early 1970s, playing in the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
14.
Billie Pierce died on September 29,1974, in New Orleans, Louisiana, at the age of 67.