Small in Stature, Sugar Pie DeSanto Stood Tall with Talent, Athleticism and Songwriting Ability

Sugar Pie DeSanto was just under 5 feet tall, yet she had a powerful voice and a daring stage presence. She'd do back flips, splits, and stunts that included jumping off pianos.

Signing with Chess Records led to DeSanto collaborating with major R&B and soul artists, including Etta James and James Brown. She toured with The James Brown Revue for two years.

Her original name was Peylia Marsema Balinton, but Johnny Otis gave her a new name that was easier to pronounce.

DeSanto also was a prolific songwriter, penning over 100 songs such as "Slip-in Mules," "Use What You Got," "Soulful Dress," and her first hit "I Want To Know," which reached #4 on Billboard's R&B chart in 1960.

You can go here to listen to DeSanto sing "I Want To Know." The image in this episode's thumbnail is the cover of her album "Go Go Power: The Complete Chess Singles 1961-1966." In the chapters, there are a couple of other images: the cover of another album, "A Little Bit of Soul 1957-1962," and a photo of DeSanto performing in August 2006. The latter is credited to Michael Albov and is available on Wikimedia Commons under the license CC BY 2.0.

This tribute is one of 41 stories that Sheldon Zoldan, a longtime journalist, has written and recorded in honor of the music notables who passed away in 2024. He's written tributes for other years as well. You can listen to the ones from 2023 on Everyday Creation. We'll have the 2022 tributes available later this year.

Sheldon also is the creator of Song of the Day, a story that he sends by email to a list of subscribers. To get on his subscriber list, email [e-mail] with the subject line ADD ME TO SOTD.

This is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to Everyday Creation®, available on YouTube and in major podcast directories including Apple, Spotify, iHeart and Audible.