Esther Mae Jones who performed as Little Esther and as Esther Phillips, was an American singer; she performed in the pop, country, jazz, and rhythm and blues fields, including soul music. Born in Galveston, Texas, she entered an amateur contest in 1949 at Johnny Otis's Barrelhouse Club in Los Angeles. Otis was so impressed that he recorded her for Modern Records and added her, billed as Little Esther, to his travelling revue, … Wikipedia
The definitive Wikipedia entry for Esther Phillips. Wikipedia is the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esther_Phillips
He had just seen a thirteen year old girl stop the show cold at an amateur night performance at the Largo Theater in Los Angeles, and so he proceeded to add the young Little Esther to his Rhythm& Blues roster. home.earthlink.net/~jaymar41/Lesther.html
Esther recorded two number 1 R & B singles for the Savoy imprint, 'Double Crossing Blues' and 'Mistrustin' Blues'. In 1951, Little Esther moved from Savoy to Federal after a dispute over royalties. Esther remained with Federal for a time, then relocated www.soulwalking.co.uk/Esther%20Phillips.html
