Olivia Sophie L'Ange Shipp

Olivia Sophie L'Ange Shipp (also known as Olivia Porter, May 17, 1880 – June 18, 1980) was a multi-instrumentalist known primarily as a bass violinist. She performed in dance bands, jazz bands, chamber music ensembles and orchestras in New York City and other parts of the United States. She was also a founder of the Negro Women's Orchestral and Civic Association.

Early life and education Olivia Shipp's first musical instrument was a comb and tissue paper. While still a child, she taught herself to play on an old pump organ given to her family by a local minister's wife and then began playing for the junior choir at church. She also went on to take voice lessons from Abbey Lyons, who was a member of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Her sister, May Kemp, who was also a musician, as well as an actress, left New Orleans to join the Black Patti Troubadours and then to form the Bob and Kemp vaudeville act in New York City. Shipp joined her there and began working in vaudeville while also studying piano. When Turkisher left New York, Shipp began studying with Black cellists Wesley Johnson and Leonard Jeter (band leader, composer, and cellist in the Shuffle Along Orchestra). During this time she participated in radio performances as part of black violinist Charles Elgar's ensemble and performed with an all-female trio. The city's first civic orchestra, the Negro Women's Orchestral and Civic Association was established with the help of American Federation of Musicians Local 802 and U.S. Representative (and future New York City mayor) Fiorello La Guardia. and charity benefits (for organizations like the Colored Artists Guild of America, and the Harlem Home for the Blind ) and led the Harlem chapter of the Girl Scout Council of Greater New York.