Beulah Thomas “Sippie” Wallace was born in Houston Texas on November 1, 1898 as one of thirteen children to her parents Fanny and George W. Thomas, Sr. Sippie got her nickname for how far apart her teeth were, claiming that as a child she “had to sip everything.” She was from a black family who had lived in Texas for a while. Her father was a deacon at Shiloh Baptist Church in Houston, where she would sing and play the organ. Of her many siblings, Hersal Thomas and George W. Thomas Jr. were also experienced musicians, both playing piano and writing songs for their sister. Although she was raised around traditional church music, Sippie’s true interested were in ragtime sounds and blues. This music was typically performed by black musicians, which might have enticed Sippie to try it herself. Blues music was about expressing emotion and often discussed love, as opposed to story-telling. The Blues scene in the 1920s was largely African American and was becoming commercially famous due to what was known as “race-records.” Race-records were recordings made by black people for black people. During the summer of her teenage years, Sippie would attend tent-show bands to watch the three-act plays which were meant to be family friendly events. These tent-shows were hugely successful in the southern parts of Texas, and the one Sippie frequented was located right in Houston. She was thrown into the spotlight when on one of her nightly trips she was asked to fill in on the chorus line, and thus became a permanent part of the show. For the remainder of her time in Texas, Sippie followed the tent shows to Dallas to continue acting and singing, but her brothers knew she was destined to be a bigger star.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Together, Hersal, George Jr., and Sippie moved to New Orleans to pursue a career in jazz and blues. While there, she would rehearse with many ragtime performers that would gain great success, like Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet and Clarence Williams. After her time in New Orleans, Sippie moved to Chicago where her brother George introduced her to Ralph Peer who was the general manager of OKeh Records. Okeh records was known for recording blues songs for race-records and giving many blues and ragtime singers great success. Only three months after her first record was pressed by OKeh, Sippie was one of the top selling black recording artists in the nation, with her song “Shorty George Blues” selling. more than 100,000 copies, which in today’s standards is the same as going platinum. She was the most frequently recorded female blues singer in the country at the time and was known as the “Texas Nightingale.” Sippie wrote many of her own songs, but also frequently collaborated with her two brothers. Since she had the opportunity to write her own songs, she wrote about important issues in her life, while also writing for women as seen in her song “Woman Be Wise” and “I’m A Mighty Tight Woman.” During 1923-1927 her forty song repertoire, Sippie was able to work with some of the famous names that she had previously rehearsed with, like Johnny Dodds and Louis Armstrong. <\/p>\n\n\n\n