Lil Green
Lil Green was born on 22/12/1919 in Mississippi. She was originally named Lillian Green or Lillie May Johnson. Her parents died when she was young and she moved to Chicago, Illinois. She would begin performing there in her teens. It would also be where she would make all her recordings.At the age of 18, she recorded her first session for Bluebird Records, a subsidiary of RCA.
In the 1930s, Green and Big Bill Broonzy had a nightclub act together.
In 1940, she released her song "Romance in the Dark", which would be one of her biggest hits and covered by artists such as Dinah Washington and Nina Simone.
In 1941, Green recorded her version of Kansas Joe McCoy's song "Why Don't You Do Right".
Green toured with Tiny Bradshaw and other bands, but mostly performed in the black theatre circuit.
In 1951, Green signed with Atlantic Records. She was however in poor health.
On 14/04/1954, Green died of pneumonia.