Originally named Lillian Green or Lillie May Johnson, she was born in Mississippi. After the early deaths of her parents, she began performing in her teens and, having (like many African-American singers) honed her craft in the church performing gospel, she sang in Mississippi jukes, before heading to Chicago, Illinois, in 1929, where she would make all of her recordings. Green was noted for superb timing and a distinctively sinuous voice. In the 1930s, she and Big Bill Broonzy had a nightclub act together. In 1940, she recorded her first session for the Bluebird budget subsidiary label of RCA Victor. Her two biggest hits were her own composition "Romance in the Dark" (1940), which was later covered by many artists, such as Dinah Washington and Nina Simone (in 1967) (Billie Holiday recorded a different song with the same title), and Green's 1941 version of Kansas Joe McCoy's minor-key blues- and jazz-influenced song "Why Don't You Do Right?", which was recorded by Peggy Lee in 1942 and by many others since. As well as performing in Chicago nightclubs, Green toured with Tiny Bradshaw and other bands but never broke away from the black theatre circuit.
By 1949, Green had changed direction with the foresight to become a jazz vocalist, and tried to emulate the jazz style of Billie Holiday. She signed with Atlantic Records in 1951, but at this point was already in poor health. She died of pneumonia in Chicago in April 1954 and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, in Gary, Indiana.
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By Barry Lee Pearson
Like so many Chicago blues artists, Lil Green first learned her craft in the church and country jukes down in Mississippi. After moving to Chicago in the 1930s, she teamed up with Chicago mainstay Big Bill Broonzy and they worked the club circuit together. Her composition "Romance in the Dark" was a 1940 Bluebird hit and in 1941 she followed it with a best-selling version of fellow Mississippi Joe McCoy's minor-key blues novelty "Why Don't You Do Right?" By then she had outgrown Big Bill and the tavern scene and moved east to work as a rhythm & blues band vocalist. For the next ten years she enjoyed a successful career touring theaters and clubs and recording for RCA, Aladdin, and Atlantic, all major R&B labels.
When she died in Chicago in 1954 she was only 35 years old. Her experiences paralleled those of her male contemporaries and she made it bigger than most. From Southern jukes to Chicago clubs and on to the Apollo Theater, she participated in the major blues institutions of her time during the golden age of blues history. She was no stranger to trouble. According to R.H. Harris, the leader of the legendary gospel Soul Stirrers, she served time in prison because of her involvement in a juke-joint killing. He also remembered that she sang religious songs beautifully. Her former partner, Big Bill, remembered her in his autobiography as a deeply religious woman who neither smoked nor drank and as a warm-hearted friend.
Today, however, few people remember her or her fine work, though they may be familiar with Peggy Lee's cover of her big hit "Why Don't You Do Right?" We can only wonder why she has been overlooked while more obscure male guitar players with lesser output have received substantially more critical attention. Whatever the case, during her brief career, she proved to be one of the best blues vocalists of her time and her contemporary African-American audience appreciated her art. She deserves her place in history, and today's listener would do well to listen to her music.