Priscilla Bowman | |
---|---|
Birth name | Priscilla Mills |
Born | Kansas City, Kansas, U.S. | May 30, 1928
Died | July 24, 1988 Kansas City, Kansas | (aged 60)
Genres | R&B |
Occupation(s) | Singer |
Years active | c.1950 – c.1975 |
Priscilla Bowman (born Priscilla I. Mills, May 30, 1928 – July 24, 1988) was an American jazz and rhythm and blues singer, who had a No. 1 hit single on the Billboard magazine R&B chart in 1955 with the song " Hands Off". She was the lead singer for the Jay McShann band.
The daughter of Ethel and Solomon Mills, she was born in Kansas City, Kansas, [1] and has been called the city's "original rock 'n' roll mama." [2] Her influences included singers Ruth Brown and Annie Laurie. [1] She joined the Jay McShann band in the early 1950s. In 1955 the band signed with Vee-Jay Records, and Bowman recorded two sessions with them. One of the songs, " Hands Off", became a hit and stayed at No. 1 on the R&B chart for three weeks in December 1955. [3]
She recorded three sessions for Vee-Jay and its subsidiary label, Falcon, as a solo singer between 1957 and 1959 but could not repeat her success. [2] However, in 1958 she was the first to record the song " A Rockin' Good Way (to Mess Around and Fall in Love)", with uncredited vocal backing by The Spaniels. [4] The song was written with Brook Benton and became a hit when Benton recorded it himself as a duo with Dinah Washington in 1960. [5]
Bowman recorded again for Abner Records in 1959 and continued to record and make personal appearances, some with McShann, through the mid-1970s. She retired to family life. [1] A compilation album of her recordings, An Original Rock & Roll Mama, was released in 1986.
Bowman died in July 1988 from lung cancer at the age of 60. [6]