Camille Howard

"When Camille played the piano, it stayed played." (30 October 1993)

Career Outline

 * Camille Howard (1914-1993) was an R&B pianist and singer from Galveston, Texas. She learned her craft at an early age and was a member of a group[ called the Cotton Tavern Trio for five years. In her teens, she moved to southern California in search of work, and joined Roy Milton in firstly the Roy Milton Trio, which expanded to the Solid Senders after having a big 1945 hit with The R.M Blues. This became a bestseller when reissued on the Juke Box label (later to become Specialty and which would be renowned as Lttle Richard's home label).
 * Her style, fast and complex boogie-woogie with dexterous fingerwork and irresistible drive, was first showcased on the track Camille's Boogie, and the single Big Fat Mama / Thrill Me (the latter a vocal number) persuaded Specialty president Art Rupe to allow her to record under her own name, and after X-Temporaneous Boogie made her arguably a bigger draw than the band she was with, she went solo, cutting the track she is now probably best remembered for, Fireball Boogie.
 * She spent the early 50s performing with a host of legendary names including Jimmie Witherspoon, Johnny Ace, Willie Mae Thornton, Joe Tex and Little Willie John. Her decision to leave Specialty in 1953, on the eve of the explosion of rock'n'roll, and sign for Federal, resulted in lower sales but a profile that was still high enough for her to found her own nighclub in Los Angeles.
 * It is ironic that Peel only discovered her music a few months before her death at the age of almost 79, and in fact initially presumed that she was either dead or extremely elderly.

Festive Fifty Entries

 * None

Sessions

 * None

Plays
Unless otherwise mentioned, all plays come from the compilation CD 'Specialty Legends Of Boogie Woogie' on Ace.


 * 23 January 1993 (BFBS): 'Instantaneous Boogie'
 * 07 February 1993 (BFBS): 'X Temperaneous Boogie'
 * 30 October 1993: 'Fireball Boogie'
 * 08 September 1995: 'Fireball Boogie'
 * 04 January 2000: 'Fireball Boogie'
 * 09 March 2000 (Radio Eins): 'Old Baldy Boogie (Compilation LP-Rock Me Daddy Vol. 1)'