Denise LaSalle
Soul and blues star Denise LaSalle was born Denise Allen near Sidon in rural Leflore County on July 16, 1939, but spent much of her childhood here in Belzoni. After moving to Chicago in her teens, she began writing songs and scored the first of many self-penned hits in 1971 with the No. 1 R&B single “Trapped By a Thing Called Love.” LaSalle’s direct and often provocative style on stage also led to great success as a live performer.
Denise LaSalle achieved success not only as a recording artist and performer but also as a songwriter, producer, record label owner, and nightclub operator. Ora Denise Allen spent her early years on a plantation and around age seven or eight moved with her family moved to Belzoni, where they lived in homes on Cain and Hayden streets. In the late 1940s she saw bluesmen Elmore James and Sonny Boy Williamson No. 2 performing on radio programs broadcast from the Easy Pay furniture store downtown. She sang in church as a child and after moving to Chicago in her mid-teens worked with the gospel group The Sacred Five.
At fifteen Allen sold stories to the magazines Tan and True Confessions. Soon thereafter she began writing songs and changed her professional name to “LaSalle” because it “sounded French.” In 1967 LaSalle made her first recordings for bluesman Billy “The Kid” Emerson’s Tarpon label, scoring a minor hit with “A Love Reputation.” In 1969 LaSalle and her then-husband Bill Jones formed Crajon Enterprises. The LaSalle-penned “Get Your Lie Straight” was a major hit for Bill Coday on the Crajon label. In 1971-72 LaSalle gained national recognition with three Top Ten R&B singles on Westbound Records: “Trapped By a Thing Called Love,” “Now Run and Tell That,” and “Man Sized Job.” As further records on Westbound, ABC, and MCA continued to hit the charts, LaSalle was becoming infamous for her racy onstage persona and extended, off-color “raps” on how women should please their men and vice versa. LaSalle attributed her strong abilities as a storyteller to her lifelong love of country music; her song “Married, But Not to Each Other” was covered by country star Barbara Mandrell.
In 1984 LaSalle recorded the first in a long series of albums for Jackson-based Malaco Records. Nine of her Malaco albums in the 1980s and ’90s sold well enough to make the national charts, as did the Malaco single “My Tu-Tu.” During this period LaSalle began to be marketed as a “blues” rather than “R&B” artist and in 1986 she founded the National Association for the Preservation of the Blues to bring more attention to the “soul/blues” style. LaSalle also wrote songs for Z. Z. Hill, who had a hit with her “Someone Else Is Steppin’ In,” as well as for Ann Peebles and Little Milton, whose recording of the LaSalle-Mack Rice composition “Packed Up and Took My Man” was sampled by rapper Ghostface Killah. In 1997 LaSalle left Malaco after her husband, businessman and disc jockey James “Super” Wolfe, Jr., joined the ministry. She recorded a gospel album on her own Angel In the Midst label, but soon returned to the blues field with popular albums on her Ordena label and on Ecko Records. In 2008 she rejoined the Malaco Records roster
The Mississippi Blues Trail markers tell stories through words and images of bluesmen and women and how the places where they lived and the times in which they existed–and continue to exist–influenced their music. The sites run the gamut from city streets to cotton fields, train depots to cemeteries, and clubs to churches. We have a lot to share, and it’s just down the Mississippi Blues Trail.
The Mississippi Blues Trail is an ongoing project of the Mississippi Blues Commission. Funding for this project has been made possible by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, Mississippi Department of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration, AT&T, and the Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University plus additional support from the Mississippi Development Authority Tourism Division.
For more information visit msbluestrail.org.
The state has a diverse population that includes Native American tribes such as the Choctaw and Chickasaw, as well as African Americans, European Americans, and Hispanic Americans.
In the early 1800s, European settlers arrived in the area, attracted by the fertile land along the Mississippi River. The county was officially established in 1918 and named after Benjamin G. Humphreys, a Confederate general and governor of Mississippi. Agriculture, particularly cotton farming, became the backbone of the county's economy, and many large plantations were established.
During the American Civil War, Humphreys County witnessed significant military activity due to its strategic location along the river. The county was heavily influenced by the antebellum plantation economy, and as a result, it experienced economic and social challenges after the war. Sharecropping became the primary means of agricultural labor, and poverty was widespread.
In the mid-20th century, Humphreys County played a significant role in the Civil Rights Movement. It was the birthplace of Fannie Lou Hamer, a prominent African American civil rights activist. She fought for voting rights and helped establish the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Today, Humphreys County continues to grapple with economic and social challenges, but it also holds a strong sense of community and a desire for progress and equality.
Humphreys County Timeline
This timeline provides a concise overview of the key events in the history of Humphreys County, Mississippi.
- Prehistoric times: Indigenous peoples inhabit the area now known as Humphreys County for thousands of years.
- Early 1800s: European settlers begin to arrive and establish homesteads in the region.
- 1834: Humphreys County is officially formed and named after Mississippi Governor Benjamin G. Humphreys.
- Late 1800s: Agriculture, specifically cotton farming, becomes the primary industry in the county.
- 1884: The Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee District is established to manage flooding and protect farmland.
- Early 1900s: The Great Migration sees many African Americans leaving the county for urban areas in the North.
- 1930s: The Great Depression and the boll weevil infestation devastate the county's agricultural economy.
- 1950s-1960s: Civil Rights Movement brings significant social and political changes to Humphreys County.
- 1970s-1990s: Mechanization and industrialization lead to a decline in the county's agricultural workforce.