Hands On Black History: Guest Blogger Magdalene Linck: Meet Victoria Spivey

Victoria Regina Spivey was a Texas born blues singer whose career spanned nearly 40 years. The child of working class parents, Spivey was raised in a musical household and her siblings, Addie “Sweet Peas” and Elton Island each enjoyed a level of success as recording artists. Victoria worked as a piano player in various nightclubs and bars throughout her teens before relocating to St. Louis, Missouri at the age of 20. It was in St. Louis that Spivey was signed to Okeh Records. Her first recording featured original songs and went on to become a best seller. At the time, Okeh Records was gaining notoriety as a recorder and publisher of ‘Race’ Records featuring Black artists such as Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, Lucille Bogan, and Hattie McDaniel.

Victoria Spivey ‘Any-Kind-A-Man’ 1934 on Vocalion Records

When the Great Depression hit the United States, countless musicians found themselves out of work and record labels began to flounder. Despite this, Spivey continued working in the record industry. In 1929 she had a role in the MGM film, Hallelujah—which was one of the first films with an entirely Black cast released by a major motion picture studio. Spivey continued working as an artist taking roles in vaudeville shows, musicals, and stage productions until her ‘retirement’ in the early 1950s.

Trailer for MGM’s Hallelujah 1929 directed by King Vidor

With the revival of folk music a decade later, Spivey returned to performing. During the 1960s Spivey played at numerous festivals and recorded songs with other aging blues musicians, such as Alberta Hunter and Lonnie Johnson. It was also during this period that Spivey worked with jazz historian Len Kunstadt to found Spivey Records—a label specializing in blues and jazz. The label was in operation until the mid-1980s and recorded musicians such as Roosevelt Sykes, Big Joe Turner, Otis Rush, and Sippie Wallace. Despite its vast number of prominent blues recordings, the label is perhaps best known for the LP ‘Three Kings and the Queen’ which featured a young Bob Dylan on harmonica and backing vocals in March of 1962, just prior to the release of his debut album. Victoria Spivey passed away in October 1976.