Blues

(Born 10-14-1895 in New Orleans, LA; Died 8-16-1925 Chicago, IL)

Edna Hicks was a New Orleans native, and is first heard from in 1916 when she is listed in the cast of a black vaudeville show in New York in 1916. She toured on the TOBA circuit and was quite popular in her day, especially in the Midwest, appearing in Chicago and Cincinnati. Edna Hicks was not a particularly artistic Blues singer, but had a loud, clear voice and a good sense of timing. Her recording career began in March of 1923 and lasted exactly one year…  Edna Hicks was on tour to Chicago when, on August 16, 1925, she was cleaning an old pot bellied stove with gasoline. When the rags she was using ignited, Edna Hicks burned to death. She was 29 years old. — Uncle Dave Lewis