Big Little Girl

"Little Esther" Jones is only 14; but she is a big girl (137 lbs.) with a big voice and a following that may set other coffee-colored coloraturas such as Lena Home and Dinah Washington looking over their shoulders. One of Little Esther's records, Double Crossing Blues, has been among the ten bestselling "race" records for 22 weeks; two others, Cupid's Boogie and Mistrustin' Blues, have been up in the big time more than a month.

In Omaha, where she was in the midst of a cross-country tour last week, a happy doorman at the Dreamland Ballroom nodded close to 1,000 frenzied Little Esther fans through the door--several hundred more than fire regulations call for. Dressed in demure organdy, roly-poly Little Esther herself had to step over a circle of backstage crapshooters to get onstage. Once there, she flashed a big gold tooth into the spotlight. Bandleader Johnny Otis laid down a fat and winsome chord, and Little Esther cut her big, warm, billowing voice adrift on a blues.

When her aim was a bit wide of a note, she just bobbed around until she fit on one she liked. By the time she had glided and wavered through some of her biggest hits, the crowd had gone happily mad.

Said one frothing listener, shaking his head: "That isn't a vibrato she's got, it's a shiver."

Born in Texas, Little Esther Jones never had a singing lesson in her life. She got her start last summer at an amateur night in a Los Angeles nightclub. Bandleader Otis, who was part owner of the club, signed her on the spot. Now he gives her half of every profit dollar plus record royalties.

On tour, Little Esther travels in a bus named for her with an entourage: her mother, a tutor (required by California law) to give her two hours' schooling a day, a manager and the eight kinetic members of the Johnny Otis band.

"I like to sing all right," says Little Esther. "But sometimes I get mad. I don't know why, I just get mad. I want to see my daddy down in Texas. And I want a vacation too."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.