FIVE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT
Sugar Pie DeSanto

December 13, 2017 | by Rusty Aceves

The “Queen of the West Coast Blues,” Sugar Pie DeSanto, will perform during New Years week as a special guest with the “King of the Funky Saxophone,” Maceo Parker. Sugar Pie has led an amazing career, and here are five highlights you should know.

1. Born Umpeylia Marsema Balinton, Sugar Pie received her stage name from soul great Johnny Otis, who discovered her and signed her to her first professional contract in 1954. Sugar Pie would perform on her first tour with Otis the following year. 
2. Her songbook contains more than 100 compositions, including the national hits “I Want to Know,” “Slip-in Mules,” “Use What You Got,” and “Soulful Dress,” which was her biggest hit for Chess Records. She was the most prolific artist on the Chess roster, and Minnie Riperton, Billy Stewart, Fontella Bass, The Whispers, Little Milton, The Dells, and Jesse James have recorded her music, among others. 
3. Sugar Pie made over 20 appearances at Harlem’s legendary Apollo Theater, and was spotted at one performance by none other than the "Godfather of Soul" himself, James Brown. Brown recruited Sugar Pie to open his shows on the road, and she toured with him for two years, from 1959-1960. 
4. While at Chess, Sugar Pie recorded two historic duets with her childhood friend Etta James in 1965, "In the Basement" and "Do I Make Myself Clear." “In the Basement” was featured in director Norman Jewison’s 1999 film The Hurricane, a biopic of wrongly imprisoned boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter starring Denzel Washington. 
5. Sugar Pie received a 1999 Bay Area Music Award for Best Female Blues Singer, a 2008 Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation, and a Lifetime Achievement award in 2009 from the Bay Guardian’s Goldie Awards.