Camille Howard

During the World War II era, female vocalists known for light piano accompaniment enjoyed widespread favor. Camille Howard, however, delivered a forceful two-handed boogie approach on the keys that placed her on equal footing with any leading pianist of either gender, echoing the work of her Los Angeles peer Hadda Brooks. She had joined the large-scale relocation of musicians from Texas to the West Coast, taking the piano chair in drummer Roy Milton & the Solid Senders during the war years and appearing on every early Juke Box and Specialty release issued by Art Rupe, most prominently the pioneering “R.M. Blues” of 1945.

Once Milton’s 1947 hit “Thrill Me,” which included Howard’s own vocal, proved successful, Rupe began cutting sides with her billed as the featured performer late that same year. According to longstanding accounts, her biggest seller, the explosive instrumental “X-Temporaneous Boogie,” was created on the spot at the close of her initial session as leader; its reverse side, the torch ballad “You Don't Love Me,” also charted strongly. Howard’s singing proved equally effective on its own terms, yielding the 1949 hit “Fiesta in Old Mexico” and the well-received 1951 single “Money Blues,” issued under the name Camille Howard & Her Boyfriends. She kept turning out vigorous boogies and smoldering ballads for Specialty until 1953, then moved briefly to Federal and Vee-Jay before settling permanently in Los Angeles. Deep religious convictions eventually brought her secular recording career to an end years ago.