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Billie and Dede Pierce hold a special place in jazz history [1]
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Date: 2025-03-07
Luthjens, a popular New Orleans dance hall on Franklin Avenue, had a traditional jazz and blues duo as its house band. According to Discogs, the music sets featured “Afro-Caribbean rhythms and Creole lyrics”
Billie Pierce played piano and sang while her husband, Dede, sang and played trumpet and cornet.
“Born Joseph LaCroix Pierce and Wilhelmina Goodson, this endearing … couple hold a special place in the annals of New Orleans jazz history,” 64 Parishes states. “Both musicians were popular in their separate early careers.”
Billie Goodson Pierce is playing the piano with her husband, trumpeter De De Pierce, in the background. Credit: State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory/Public domain
Born in 1907 in Marianna, FL, Billie grew up in Pensacola. One of six piano-playing sisters, Billie began playing professionally when she was 15. She played for such greats as Bessie Smith and Ida Cox before moving to New Orleans in 1930.
Dede was born in New Orleans in 1904 to a family of Creole musicians. According to 64 Parishes, one of his first professional performances in the mid-1920s was with Arnold DePass’s band.
“Dede soon became recognized as a proficient trumpeter,” 64 Parishes states. “He further distinguished himself through his vocal talents, and he often sang many songs of the local French Creole repertoire.”
Married in 1935, Billie and Dede performed together for the rest of their careers. They performed as Luthjens’ house band for 24 years.
In the 1950s, Billie had a stroke and Dede lost his eyesight to glaucoma.
“Despite these setbacks, the couple stepped back into the limelight and began to enjoy widespread recognition and success in the years leading up to the opening of Preservation Hall,” 64 Parishes states. “Many recording sessions soon followed.”
Dede died in 1973 and Billie died in 1974.
“The last decade of the Pierces’ lives,” 64 Parishes states, “was spent recording, touring and playing to adoring audiences, both home in New Orleans and throughout the world.”
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