Neliska Ann Briscoe

Neliska Ann Briscoe (April 7, 1914 – August 25, 1994) was an American dancer, jazz band leader, and businesswoman.

Background The daughter of Eddie Briscoe, a meatpacker, and Neliska Thomas, a cook and housekeeper from Mexico, Neliska Ann Briscoe was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. She had two half-brothers and a sister who died young. Briscoe's career as an entertainer began at about the age of nine when she performed in a club where her uncle, Escaliere Thomas, was employed part-time in the evenings. She got the nickname "Baby" (sometimes "Babe"), which she retained in her entertainment career as an adult.

Early career As a child, Briscoe performed in New Orleans at the St. Bernard Alley Cabaret as an acrobatic dancer in a floor show in which she was the sole child performer. A natural on the stage, Briscoe continued to perform as an acrobatic dancer and singer in such New Orleans cabarets as the Astoria, Entertainers, and the Owl in her early teenage years, often mentioned in newspaper articles as a cabaret's main draw. She died four months after her 80th birthday, on August 25, 1994.

Awards and honors In 2004, Briscoe was included in a feature exhibition celebrating the Women of Jazz at the National Historic Jazz Park in New Orleans. To commemorate the tenth anniversary of her death, her daughters set up the Baby Briscoe Scholarship Fund at Tulane University.