Two women from one island changed how America moved to rhythm and blues

Two Galveston originals reshaped American rhythm and blues: Camille Howard with boogie-woogie fire and Esther Phillips with a deep, briny voice that bent genres. We trace their arcs from island roots to national stages, through reinvention, withdrawal, and lasting legacy.

• R&B’s rise
• Camille Howard’s piano power and Los Angeles breakthrough
• partnership with Roy Milton and Specialty Records era
• hits, changing industry, and a faith-led exit from the spotlight
• Esther Phillips’ early discovery by Johnny Otis and chart ascent
• addiction, return to Houston, and a patient comeback
• Release Me, Atlantic years, and BBC performance
• cross-genre mastery and late recognition in the Blues Hall of Fame
• shared island roots and distinct paths shaping modern American music

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Chapters

• 0:00 Galveston After the War
• 0:39 Camille Howard’s Rise
• 1:43 Hits, Shift to Rock, and Retreat
• 3:53 Enter Esther Phillips
• 5:36 Fame, Addiction, and Return
• 6:42 Reinvention and Cross-Genre Brilliance

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:03

In the years following World War II, life in Galveston was shifting fast. Soldiers are coming home, technology was advancing, the booming post-war economy promised new opportunities for anyone ready to reach for them. And a new sound is drifting out of dance halls and radio stations across America. It's the sound of rhythm and blues. Born from gospel, jazz, and the blues that had helped shape the cultural landscape of the southern United States in the preceding decades. While listening to music from this era, you can almost hear the world exhale. A collective sigh of relief that the Second World War of the Century was over. And right here from Galveston Island, two remarkable women would help shape that sound and carry it far beyond Texas, Camille Howard and Esther Phillips. Camille Browning, later known to the world as Camille Howard, was born in Galveston on March 29, 1914. Very few details survive about her early years, but she grew up surrounded by the lively mix of gospel, jazz, and the blues that flowed through the island's black community. As a young woman, she performed locally with a group called the Cotton Tavern Trio, honing a piano style that was equal parts power and precision. Howard became a very versatile performer. Given the opportunity, she could whip crowds into a frenzy with her energetic boogie-woogie style of piano playing, or mesmerize them with her soulful, sultry singing. By her mid-20s, Camille's talent had outgrown the island, which is really saying something because Galveston was a hub for entertainment in the 1930s. However, like many artists of her time, limited by segregation and the narrow opportunities of Jim Crow, Texas, she moved west, settling in Los Angeles to join a thriving community of black musicians who were reimagining American sound. In 1943, Camille met fellow musician Roy Milton, an Oklahoma native who led a band called the Solid Cinders. Her energetic piano and soulful voice soon became the heartbeat of Milton's group. They were quickly signed by producer Art Roop to Jukebox Records, which would later evolve into Specialty Records, one of the major forces in early RB. Together, Roy Milton and the Solid Cinders filled dance halls and juke joints from coast to coast. Milton usually sang lead, but Camille often stole the show, especially with her hit Thrill Me, where she took over vocals entirely.

unknown: 2:16

Thrill Me, baby, thrill me like nobody.

SPEAKER_00: 2:20

One Dallas newspaper raved that her boogie-woogie playing and wonderful personality made her a favorite with female fans and an attractive eyeful for the men. Though she continued working with Roy Milton and the Solid Cinders, Howard also began recording under her own name in 1946. Between 1948 and 1952, she released 14 solo singles with specialty records, including her signature track, Ex Temporaneous Boogie. That song, recorded on the spot as a spontaneous jam session, perfectly captured her improvisational fire. It became one of her biggest hits. But by the mid-1950s, the music landscape was changing. RB artists were facing the rise of rock and roll. The electric guitar was taking center stage, reshaping the sound of popular music and pushing big band style ensembles to the background. Howard continued recording under Federal Records and later VJ Records until the end of the decade. As a devoutly religious woman, Camille gradually stepped away from the secular music world, turning down the spotlight that had once been hers. By the late 1950s, she had retired from performing altogether, leaving behind a powerful legacy and one of the most distinctive piano sounds of her generation. Camille Howard passed away in Los Angeles on March 10, 1993, at the age of 78. Though her name isn't well known today, her influence can still be heard in every piano riff that bridges the worlds of blues, jazz, and rock and roll. By the time Camille Howard had retired, another Galveston native was just launching her career, Esther Mae Jones, known professionally first as Little Esther, and then Esther Phillips. She was born in Galveston on December 23, 1935. Her parents divorced when she was young. Her father later settled in Houston while her mother took her to Los Angeles. In both cities, music became her anchor. She found her early voice singing in church choirs by the age of six and performing in talent shows by the age of 12. In a 1970s interview, Esther laughed as she remembered her first big win at a local talent contest. Her sister and a friend, hoping to share in the$10 prize and a bottle of white port and lemon juice, the popular neighborhood drink, convinced her to enter. They knew I could win, she said. She continued, so they dressed me up to look older. I took first prize singing Dina Washington's Baby Get Lost.

unknown: 4:44

Well, good morning, baby.

SPEAKER_00: 4:47

That win changed everything. It didn't take long for her voice to reach the right ears. Around the age of 13 or 14, she was discovered by band leader Johnny Otis, who was hosting one of these contests in Los Angeles. Otis quickly signed her to his review and christened her Little Esther. In 1949, she left school to tour with Otis's band. A year later, their song Double Crossing Blues hit number one on the national RB charts, making Little Esther the youngest RB artist ever to reach the top spot. Fame came fast. She toured nonstop, recording hit after hit, and for a while was one of the most popular voices in the country. But by 1954, the lifestyle had caught up with her. Still just 19, she was struggling with a heroin addiction and returned to Houston to recover and reconnect with her father. It took nearly a decade, but Esther staged a remarkable comeback. In 1962, she met a young Kenny Rogers in a Houston club. He and his brother, who owned Linux Records, helped her record a soulful version of the country song Release Me. Release Me. And Let Me Love. The song shot up in the RB charts and reintroduced her to a new generation, this time under her new stage name, Esther Phillips. Two years later, she signed with Atlantic Records, where she continued to reinvent herself. Her cover of the Beatles song And I Love Him, a gender swap twist on their classic, was so powerful that the band invited her to perform it on BBC TV. Through the 1970s, Esther's music defied category, part jazz, part blues, part soul, but undeniably, all heart. A 1972 Ebony Profile described her voice as deep and briny, her laughter peppered with sardonic chuckles. She could transform any song into something unmistakably her own. But her health never fully recovered from years on the road. Esther Phillips passed away on August 7, 1984, at just 48 years old from kidney and liver failure. Her old friend Johnny Otis, the man who had discovered her more than three decades before, delivered her eulogy. In recognition of her contributions to RB, in 2023, she was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. Both Camille Howard and Esther Phillips, essentially RB royalty, hailed from Galveston and went on to shape the sound of modern American music. One, a dazzling pianist and singer who stepped away from the fame, the other, a powerhouse vocalist who fought through hardship to keep singing, yet both carried the same spark, bringing the sound of their life experiences to the world in their own way. Though their talent took them down different paths, their legacies continue to inspire musicians today, especially now that so much of it is available on the internet. So next time you want to be transported by some island originals, Camille Howard and Esther Phillips will carry you along at just the right tempo.