Lizzie Miles sang blues but she didn’t want to be called a blues singer.
“To me I sing love songs — sad songs — torchy songs,” 64 Parishes quoted Miles as saying. “Guess it’s because I had such a hard, sad life from as far back as I can remember.”
Born in New Orleans in 1895 as Elizabeth Mary Landreaux, Miles took her stage name from second husband John C. Miles, whom she married at 21 in 1914. A bandleader, John died of Spanish flu in 1918 in Shreveport while on tour.
Miles sang in French – her first language – and English. As a Creole from the Faubourg Marigny, she “performed with bands and before audiences both predominantly Black and predominantly white,” 64 Parishes states. “The New Orleans cultural atmosphere in which Miles made her debut was rich in working-class venues for performers of blues and early jazz.”
According to Syncopated Times, Miles toured the vaudeville circuit, worked with a circus and minstrel shows. In the early 1920s, she moved to Chicago, where she performed with King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band.
At 27, Miles made her first recording in New York City for Okeh Records. According to 64 Parishes, she released nearly 70 recordings during the 1920s and 1930s – sometimes as Mandy Smith or Jane Howard. She returned to New Orleans in the late 1930s. She was stricken with a serious illness and stopped performing until the 1950s.
Returning as a traditional jazz-revival vocalist, “Miles … insisted on performing from either the side or in front of the stage because … she had prayed for healing when she was ill and pledged to never set foot on stage again,” 64 Parishes states. “She nonetheless acquired a reputation as an important and vibrant musical figure.”
Miles retired in 1959 and died in 1963.
For more tales from New Orleans history, visit the Back in the Day archives.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
