Holle Thee Maxwell

Holle Thee Maxwell (born Holle'Thee MarClaRoDe' Maxwell; October 17, 1945) is an American singer and songwriter. Maxwell has performed with soul and blues artist Ike Turner and jazz organist Jimmy Smith. Maxwell wrote a song for Bobby Bland's 1978 album, Come Fly with Me.

Beginning her professional career in the late–1950s, her background includes opera training in childhood, being presented at Civic Opera House at 12 years young in solo concert by Rev. Dr. Lena McLen and her mother Eula Thee Gladys Maxwell, performances as a soul balladeer in the 1960s, European tours, and appearances at the Chicago Blues Festival. The Cannes Musical Festival named her "Queen of Entertaining Entertainers".

Life and career Maxwell first sang professionally at the age of five. She studied classical voice and piano from ages nine to seventeen. At age twelve, she was featured at the Chicago Civic Opera House. Maxwell holds two degrees in music from the Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University and The Juilliard School.

Her mother sent her to modeling and finishing school and made her take classical musical training, but Maxwell discovered soul when she was in high school. She said, "Around the age of seventeen, I started sneaking around off to the nightclubs and looking at Harold Burrage, Otis Clay, Little Johnny Williams. I used to watch these artists because they had so much soul, so much whatever." Maxwell recorded singles for Curtom Records, Smit Whit Records, and Star Records in the 1960s and 1970s. She had regional hits in the United States with the songs "Only When You're Lonely", "One Thin Dime", "Never Love Again", "Suffer", and "Philly Barracuda". Her singles are popular with collectors worldwide, especially Northern Soul enthusiasts in Europe.

Maxwell lived to California for most of the 1970s and early 1980s. During this time she owned a nightclub and sang for two years with jazz organist Jimmy Smith. She performed with Ike Turner again for eight months in 1992. Despite the controversy surrounding Tina Turner's separation from Ike Turner, Maxwell reported a positive professional relationship with him. In 2005 she was still a hit in France. She was a regular performer at the Maxwell Café in Paris and nightclubs in London and Europe.

Maxwell joined Chicago Women in Blues at Reggie's Rock Club in Chicago in 2011 in response to the lineup of almost all male performers at the Chicago Blues Festival . She hosted an all-female performance at the 2011 Chicago Blues Festival, featuring Liz Mandeville, Demetria Taylor, Peaches Staten, and Ramblin' Rose. In January 2014, the Great Black Music Project of the Northeastern Illinois University honored Maxwell by adding her to their artist registry and podcasting their interview of her about her music career.

Maxwell has never stopped working from opera training in childhood to performing as a soul balladeer in the 1960s, to extensive touring in Europe, to currently performing in Chicago clubs and at the Chicago Blues Festival and hosting a musical and historical tour of Chicago's soul and blues with Jimmy Burns. Her music continues to be presented to global audiences on KJAZZ Radio UK. George Blaise described her as a "true queen of [the] Chicago blues scene" in an interview on his WICU-TV program 26 N. Halsted on December 30, 2014.

Awards

On June 8, 2014, Maxwell was inducted into the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame ® at Buddy Guy's Legends. She was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Chicago Music Awards on March 15, 2015. On November 1, 2016, the Chicago City Council celebrated Maxwell's 71st birthday and acclaimed her music career of 7 decades as a legendary Chicago entertainer. On October 15, 2017, Maxwell was presented the Chicago Blues Legend Award.

Music and performance style Maxwell sings and plays the piano. American Blues News reported that her early influences included Shirley Temple, Mae West, Marian Anderson, Josephine Baker, and Dinah Shore. Blues singer Bobby Bland sang her song "Ain't God Something" on his album Come Fly with Me.

In 1978, South African reviewer Roy Christie credited the success of the Jimmy Smith show to "the electrifying performance of Holly Maxwell." He wrote, "She is virtually a reincarnation of Billie Holiday." Reviewer Aaron Cohen more recently described Maxwell's rendition of Billie Holiday's "God Bless the Child" as conveying "outright defiance." Other observers stated that her performance of the song moved people to cry or cheer.

Book Maxwell released her self-published book about Ike Turner, Freebase Ain't Free, in 2018. Blues critic David Whiteis recounts that Maxwell conveys a different man than is commonly reported in the press. When Maxwell was an occasional lead singer for Turner, she became 'inseparable' friends with him. Maxwell wrote that Turner was "a kindly man of depth and generosity" despite his dark side that included serious drug addiction and a toxic, mutually abusive relationship with his wife, Tina. Whiteis reports that "Maxwell reminds us that Ike Turner’s life and legacy exemplify what Gordon portrayed in It Came from Memphis – 'the grit that produces the pearls'."

Discography Singles "(Happiness Will Cost You) One Thin Dime" / "It's Impossible" (1965), Constellation Records "Philly Barracuda Part 1" (1966), Star "Philly Barracuda Part 2" (1966), Star

Albums Holle Thee Maxwell...Thee Blonde Bombshell (1972), unknown record label The Northern Soul of Constellation, with four tracks by Maxwell (release date unknown), Base Camp Records The Northern Soul of Chicago, vol. 1, with one track by Maxwell (1993), Goldmine Soul Supply Live at Quai du Blues (2004), Virgin Records All Kinds'a Blues ... All Kinds'a All Ways (2012), TuneCore