![]() ![]() But those songs didn't sell as well as, say, "King Size Papa," which Lee once sang at the White House for President Harry Truman. MARTIN: Lee also sang soulful ballads and was a very versatile pianist. HADDIX: And it's not what we think of today, like leave nothing to the imagination. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DON'T COME TOO SOON") He says, starting in the 1920s, when many jazz clubs served exclusively white audiences, Julia Lee, who is Black, was one of a number of women known for recording this style of blues - a list that includes iconic singer Bessie Smith. MARTIN: That's Kansas City jazz historian Chuck Haddix. Billboard R&B chart where it sat for 12 weeks.ĬHUCK HADDIX: Her song "Snatch And Grab It" sold over half a million copies without any airplay because people fed quarters in the jukebox and played it. MARTIN: "Snatch And Grab It," recorded by Julia Lee & Her Boy Friends, was deemed too risque to be played on the radio in 1947, but it still rocketed to No. Grab it in the place where you hold it best. ![]() MARTIN: But it was quickly followed by this one.ĭUNCAN: Her music was a little dirty, and that kind of surprised me. JULIAN DUNCAN: Excellent, excellent singer. JULIA LEE: (Singing) Grab it in the night. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SNATCH AND GRAB IT") Then when he was 40, he came across a collection of her albums in family storage and finally listened. She passed away right before he was born, and he had never heard any of her music. MACKENZIE MARTIN, BYLINE: Growing up, Julian Duncan knew his grandmother Julia Lee had been a famous jazz and blues singer in Kansas City, Mo. Mackenzie Martin from member station KCUR has the story. She was never a household name, but she was one of a handful of women who pioneered a specific type of blues. Seventy-five years ago today, a Kansas City jazz singer recorded her first big hit - Julia Lee.
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