Lu Elliott

Background

Elliott was born on August 3, 1924. She was a tuba player in her high school band. As a teenager she won first prize at the amateur night held at Harlem's Apollo Theater.

She was married to guitarist Horace C. Sims, who had played in a band called Afro Cubanaires. In 1952, she and her husband bought a 14-room house in East Orange, New Jersey.

During her career she had appeared on the Steve Allen Show and had spent a year working with BB King in the United States as well as touring Europe.

Her sister Billie Lee was also a singer.

1940s to 1950s

In September 1949 and new on the scene, she provided the vocals on "He's The Greatest Thing There Is" with the Duke Ellington Orchestra that was recorded in New York. She appeared on another recording by the orchestra in late January 1950. Both she and Al Hibbler provided the vocals on "How High the Moon". She left the band in February 1950. For a period of time she was a singer in the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra. It was revealed in the March 4, 1954 edition of Jet Magazine that she was the only woman tuba player in the musicians union.

1960s

In 1960, her single "One" / "Big Joe" was released on ABC Paramount. Billboard referred to it as an "Emotion packed" ballad.

In January 1967, it was reported that she was returning to recording, with a three-year contract that had just been signed with ABC-Paramount. In February, she began a nation-wide tour with BB King. In April 1967, Billboard reported that she had gone to Australia for six weeks of dates in hotels and theaters. Later that year, she appeared at the Chevron-Hilton in Sydney, Australia. She stayed there for an extra month. Her 1967 album Way Out From Down Under received a favorable review from Billboard. The album was arranged and conducted by Johnny Pate. It is quite possible that her time in Australia was an influence on the title of the album, which featured her with a kangaroo on the front cover.

In June 1968, she appeared on the Joey Bishop Show. Along with Elliott, Johnny Mann and his Orchestra and The Collage appeared. Also in 1968, her With a Little Help from My Friends album was released on ABC Records. The album included the Lennon & McCartney composition "With a Little Help from My Friends", the Willie Cooper & Marshall Boxley composition "Our Love Will Last Forever" and the Frank Loesser composition "If I Were A Bell. It received a positive review in Billboard, with, on "If I Were a Bell", her voice being powerful, yet comfortable and her great choice of material commented on.

1970s

December 1970 saw her with The Chicki Horn appearing at Jimmy and Wes Pemberton's 21 Club in The Virgin Islands.

In March 1973, she and Al Hibbler sang at the funeral of Key Club owner Walter C. Dawkins, who was believed to have committed suicide in his club by shooting himself.

In 1975, following the completion of a two week at the Holiday House in Pittsburgh she was hospitalized as a result of severe anemia. She spent a month in Columbus Hospital, Newark. A benefit event was held for her at the Key Club, where she was one of the favorites. Even though she was out of hospital, she was unable to attend the event as she was still recovering and had been advised by her doctor to refrain from show business for a while. Some of the people who turned up for the event were singers Lenny Welch and Gilbert Nelsonn. The Sam Williams Express was there too. Others that attended were her singer sister Billie Lee, her husband Horace Sims, fashion designer Freddie Roach and photographer Irving Overby. By the later part of the mid-1970s she was appearing at the Club Daiquiri in St. Thomas with the Sam Williams Express, a group she had teamed up with some years before. Returning to the band after her illness, they changed the name of the band to the Sam Williams-Lu Elliott Experience. In addition to updated jazz tunes, they were covering rock and soul material that included covers of songs by Al Green and Barry White. By popular demand they were to appear again in February 1976.

Around 1979, she appeared on the Redd Foxx and George Kirby shows in Las Vegas

1980s

In the first quarter of 1981, Elliott had appeared at the Bally Casino a few times for a period of nearly three months. In mid-March 1981, she appeared at The Cookery at East Eighth Street at University Place in New York, backed by a duo consisting of Robert Banks on piano and Jimmy Lewis on bass. She was covering material by Duke Ellington and Billy Holliday with songs such as "Mood Indigo", "Sophisticated Lady" and "It Don't Mean a Thing". Elliott was brought into the Cookery after resident artist, 86 year old Alberta Hunter fell and broke her hip. She was sought out by the club's owner Barney Josephson, who tried to fill Hunter's absence with some other singers which did not work out. Then he remembered that he had previously heard her singing at St. Peters Lutheran Church in Lexington Avenue. So he contacted her. In May of that year she was singing there from Tuesday to Saturday, backed by Gerald Cook on Piano and with Jimmy Lewis on bass. On Saturday, December 12, it was announced Miss Lu Elliott and her Jazz Trio were to play a free show at the Citicorp market in New York. In January 1982, she opened for several weeks at the Golden Nugget Casino.

Death

She died of cancer, either on March 4 or 5th, 1987.