Margie Day

Margie Day (born Margaret Hoffler, April 6, 1926 – September 18, 2014), later Margie Day Walker, was an American R&B singer who had success in the 1950s and 1960s.

Early life and start in show business Margaret Hoffler was born and brought up in Norfolk, Virginia, one of the four children of Kemper Hoffler and his wife Ledora. She grew up listening to the gospel, opera, swing and jazz records bought by her brothers or played on the radio, and took piano lessons.

After graduating from high school, she went to Virginia State College to study music, but soon decided that that was not what she wanted. She returned home to work in a cafeteria at a local military base, where she met a soldier who played piano, and occasionally sang with him. He introduced her to local musician Luther Wilson, whose band she joined in 1945. After a few months she relocated to New York City, and began singing at a lounge in Newark, New Jersey. Shortly afterwards, she married and returned to Norfolk to have a baby.

Recording career In early 1950, she was approached by the Griffin Brothers, a popular local band, and accepted an invitation to join them. She sang with them in Virginia and North Carolina before they received a recording deal with Dot Records. Their first record billed together as Margie Day with the Griffin Brothers Orchestra, "Street Walkin' Daddy" / "Riffin' With Griffin", became a No. 7 hit on the Billboard R&B chart in late 1950, with sales reportedly reaching over fifteen thousand copies a week. The follow-up record was "Little Red Rooster" (unrelated to a Willie Dixon song with the same title She toured widely with the group in 1951 and 1952, and they released several other singles on the Dot label including "Sadie Green", "I'm Gonna Jump In The River", "The Clock Song (Let Your Pendulum Swing)", and "Pretty Baby", her last entry in the R&B top ten.

In late 1952, she left the Griffin Brothers, joined the Floyd Dixon Combo as featured vocalist, and also began recording solo, her first solo release on Dot being "Midnight". The following year, she joined with the Paul "Hucklebuck" Williams band for a series of concerts and tours, appearing on the same bills as T-Bone Walker, Fats Domino, Charles Brown, Ruth Brown and others. In September 1953, she left Dot Records and signed for Decca, her first release on the new label being the self-penned "Snatching It Back". Day returned to performing, in Miami, Atlantic City, and Chicago. She was booked to perform in Puerto Rico in 1969, but became ill and the engagement was cancelled.

In 2010, rights-management firm Beach Road Music, LLC, acquired the Coed Records catalog, subsequently re-releasing three digitally re-mastered 1961 Margie Day singles on the compilation album From The Vault: The Coed Records Lost Master Tapes, Volume 1.

Margie Day Walker died on September 18, 2014, in Norfolk, Virginia.

Discography Albums

Dawn of a New Day (1968, RCA Victor) Experience (1969, RCA Victor)

Singles/EP's

Little Red Rooster/Blues All Alone (1950, Dot Records) Little Red Rooster/Riffin with Griffin I'm Gonna Raise a Rukus Tonight (Dot Records) String Bean/Don't Talk To Me About Men (Dot Records) Midnight/Stubborn as a Mule (Deltone Records) Bonaparte's Retreat/Hot Pepper (1951, Dot Records) I Wanna Go Back (Dot Records) Sadie Green/One Steady Date (1951, Dot Records) If You Want Some Lovin'/Your Best Friend (1951, Dot Records) Stubborn as a Mule/Pretty Baby (1951, Dot Records) It'd Surprise You/I'll Get a Deal (1952, Dot Records) I'm Gonna Jump in the River/Stormy Night (1952, Dot Records) Ace in the Hole (1952, Dot Records) Midnight/My Story (1952, Dot Records) Mole in the Hole/Just Couldn't Keep It to Myself (1954, Decca Records) Old Time Lovin'/I Like What You're Doing (1954, Decca Records) Snatchin' It Back (Decca Records) I'm Too Busy Cryin' to Care (Decca Records) Take My Hand/From Someone Who Cares (1956, DeLuxe Records) Dumplin' Dumplin (1956, DeLuxe Records) Tears That Come So Easy/That's The Way Love Goes (1957, DeLuxe Records) Send for Me/It Started All Over Again (1957, Coed Records) Let Me Know/Send For Me (1961, Coed Records) Crazy Over You (1962, Legrand Records) Tell Me In The Sunlight (1963, Martay Records) Walk Away/Much Too Long (1967, RCA Victor) What Does He Think/Time Doesn't Matter Anymore (1968, RCA)Compilation albums'''

I'll Get a Deal (1986 LP vinyl, Mr. R&B Records) Blues with a Beat Volume 2 (2006 CD) Dawn of a New Day/Experience (2008 CD) From The Vault: The Coed Records Lost Master Tapes, Volume 1 (2010 CD) Weepin' and Cryin' - The Singles Collection 1950-55'' (2023 CD)