Born in Mound Bayou, Mississippi, during the early 1960s, Nellie Tiger Travis developed a style that blends contemporary blues with Southern soul. Her grandmother, a minister who performed in church, raised her, while additional relatives pursued singing and instrumental work. Travis began performing in church services at age five. During her teenage years she entered beauty pageants and was selected homecoming queen upon graduating from John F. Kennedy High School in 1979. Although she weighed an acting career, her commitment to music prevailed, prompting a move to Los Angeles. There she performed with several Top 40 ensembles yet grew frustrated by industry dynamics and departed in 1992 for Chicago, where she expected only a brief stay while caring for her mother. She remained in the city and secured a 1995 engagement at Kingston Mines. Previously unfamiliar with the blues, Travis embraced the form and found guidance from Chicago blues queen Koko Taylor. In 2000, friends proposed the nickname “Tiger” during a conversation about stage names, noting that it matched her resilient yet feminine demeanor, and the moniker endured. Within several years she became a fixture on the Chicago blues circuit, appeared alongside Buddy Guy, Bobby Rush, Otis Clay, and Little Milton, and received the “Entertainer of the Year” designation in a New City readers’ poll. That same year she issued her first album, I Got It Like That, on her own Tiger Belle imprint and recorded the joint release Heart and Soul with guitarist Shun Kikuta. As Southern soul gained prominence in her sets, she delivered 2005’s Wanna Be with You, which merged Chicago blues elements with modern soul conventions. The 2008 album I’m a Woman contained the radio single “Slap Yo’ Weave Off,” which cultivated a devoted regional audience. Following Koko Taylor’s death in 2009, Travis sang at the funeral and placed the tribute “Queen of the Blues” on that year’s I’m in Love with a Man I Can’t Stand. She composed a second tribute, “Koko,” for the 2011 album I’m Goin’ Out Tonight. Another Southern soul success arrived in 2013 with “Mr. Sexy Man,” which prompted a popular line dance at relevant venues. By then Travis had become a recognized figure in the blues world, maintaining a schedule of appearances across Japan, Europe, and the United States. The 2014 compilation Nellie Sings the Blues gathered earlier material.
