Bee Palmer
Beatrice C. "Bee" Palmer (11 September 1894 – 22 December 1967) was an American singer and dancer born in Chicago, Illinois. Palmer first attracted significant attention as one of the first exponents of the "shimmy" dance in the late 1910s. She was sometimes credited as the creator of the "shimmy" (although there were other claimants at the time as well). She first appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies in 1918. She toured with an early jazz band, which included such notables as Emmett Hardy, Leon Ropollo and Santo Pecora in addition to pianist/songwriter Al Siegel (whom Palmer married). The band was called "Bee Palmer's New Orleans Rhythm Kings". With some personnel changes, the Rhythm Kings went on to even greater fame after parting ways with Palmer. In 1921, an alleged affair with boxing champ Jack Dempsey created a scandal and a lawsuit. Palmer is credited as co-composer of the pop song standard "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone". She made a few recordings which were not issued at the time. One was a session with Frankie Trumbauer that featured Palmer performing vocalese on the Bix Beiderbecke and Trumbauer solos on Singin' the Blues to lyrics by Ted Koehler. Thanks to surviving test pressings/masters, the recordings were finally issued in the 1990s and 2000s. |
Birth and Death Data: Born September 11, 1894 (Chicago), Died December 22, 1967
Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1918 - 1929
Roles Represented in DAHR: soprano vocal
= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.
Recordings
Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Victor | [Trial 1918-05-15-02] | Not documented | 5/15/1918 | When Alexander takes his ragtime band to France | Bee Palmer | Female vocal solo, with piano | vocalist, soprano vocal | |
Victor | [Trial 1919-01-13-01] | Not documented | 1/13/1919 | After you've gone | Bee Palmer | Female vocal solo, with piano | vocalist, soprano vocal | |
Victor | [Trial 1919-01-13-02] | Not documented | 1/13/1919 | I'm the jazz baby | Bee Palmer | Female vocal solo, with piano | vocalist, soprano vocal | |
Victor | [Trial 1925-07-14-01] | 10-in. | 7/14/1925 | I'll see you in my dreams | Bee Palmer | Female vocal solo, with violin and piano | vocalist, soprano vocal | |
Victor | [Trial 1925-07-14-02] | 10-in. | 7/14/1925 | Sweet Georgia Brown | Bee Palmer | Female vocal solo, with violin and piano | vocalist, soprano vocal | |
Victor | [Trial 1928-05-10-01] | 10-in. | 5/10/1928 | I'm coming, Virginia | Bee Palmer | Female vocal solo | vocalist, soprano vocal | |
Columbia | 77869 | 10-in. | 6/3/1918 | At half-past nine | Bee Palmer | Female vocal solo, with orchestra | vocalist, soprano vocal | |
Columbia | W147770 | 10-in. | 1/10/1929 | Don't leave me, daddy | Bee Palmer | Female vocal solo, with jazz/dance band | vocalist, soprano vocal | |
Columbia | W147771 | 10-in. | 1/10/1929 | Singin' the blues | Bee Palmer | Female vocal solo, with jazz/dance band | vocalist, soprano vocal |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Palmer, Bee," accessed November 1, 2024, https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/107697.
Palmer, Bee. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved November 1, 2024, from https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/107697.
"Palmer, Bee." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 1 November 2024.
DAHR Persistent Identifier
Linked Open Data Sources
LCNAR: Palmer, Bee - http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n97862958
Wikidata: Bee Palmer - http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q813980
VIAF: http://viaf.org/viaf/161149198355374940007
MusicBrainz: Bee Palmer - https://musicbrainz.org/artist/e538746a-32ce-4d21-a0aa-8f3e655c93c9
ISNI: 0000 0004 0760 0738 - http://www.isni.org/isni/0000000407600738
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