Sugar Pie DeSanto (born Peylia Marsema Balinton, October 16, 1935) is an American rhythm-and-blues singer, whose career in music flourished in the 1950s and 1960s.
DeSanto was born to an African-American mother, who was a concert pianist, and a Filipino father. She spent most of her early life in San Francisco, California, where she moved with her family at the age of four. Growing up in the Fillmore area 1950s, Peylia was hanging out in a gang called the Lucky 20s with her friend Jamesetta Hawkins (Etta James) . Peylia and Jamesetta sometimes got into trouble and Jamesetta Hawkins spent time in a junior detention centre. But they were both keen singers, and Hawkins formed a singing group called the Creolettes, which featured Peylia’s sister. In 1954, when Hawkins was just 15, The Creolettes auditioned for bandleader Johnny Otis.
DeSanto was given her stage name as well as her recording debut by Otis. He dubbed her "Little Miss Sugar Pie" in 1955. "While we were in the studio he named me Sugar Pie," DeSanto recalled in an interview, "Because I was so little. I wore a size three shoe and I weighed about 85 pounds. I was very tiny." She's a half-pint in size, true, but in talent or voice assuredly not. Although typecast as a blues singer, she also takes care of business on the soul end of things and is a convincing jazz vocal stylist as well. That would be enough to gain most singers a reasonable slice of glory, but DeSanto also happens to be a hilarious comedienne, a show-stopping dancer, and a superb and highly original songwriter whose compositions have been cut by Fontella Bass, Billy Stewart, Little Milton, Bobby McClure, Minnie Riperton, Jesse James, the Dells, and the Whispers.
Otis discovered her performing at the Ellis Theater, the venue which she feels was sort of a birthing ground for her musical style. Otis dropped by one of the venue's regular talent shows only to observe DeSanto walking off with first prize. He promptly offered her a contract to come to Los Angeles to cut her first record ever. From the late '50s onward she performed regularly at rhythm & blues havens such as the Apollo in New York, the Regal in Chicago, and the Howard in Washington, D.C. At the Apollo she made quite an impression on the so-called "Godfather of Soul," James Brown, leading to her becoming his opening act for two years.
In 1960, DeSanto rose to national prominence when her single "I Want to Know" reached number four on Billboard's Hot R&B chart. She recorded the song with her husband, Pee Wee Kingsley. Soon thereafter their marriage ended. DeSanto moved to Chicago and signed with Chess Records in 1962 as a recording artist and writer. Among her recordings for Chess were "Slip-in Mules", "Use What You Got", "Soulful Dress" (her biggest hit for Chess), and "I Don't Wanna Fuss". During her tenure at Chess Records, she became the most prolific and highest paid writer in their employ.
It wasn’t just the USA that liked some Sugar Pie. DeSanto made quite an impression on the UK via sixties TV proto-pop show Ready Steady Go! in 1964. Also that year DeSanto was the only female performer on a touring American Folk Blues Festival your of Europel with a line-up that would make a blues fan soak the concert program with drool, including Willie Dixon, Sleepy John Estes, Clifton James, Sunnyland Slim, Hubert Sumlin, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Sonny Boy Williamson II, also known as Rice Miller. DeSanto’s lively performances, including wild dancing and standing back flips, were widely appreciated.
In 1965 DeSanto, under the name Peylia Parham, began a writing collaboration with Shena DeMell. They produced the song "Do I Make Myself Clear", which DeSanto sang as a duet with Etta James. It reached the top 10. It was followed by another DeSanto–James duet, "In the Basement", in 1966. DeSanto's next record, "Go Go Power", did not make the charts, and she and Chess parted ways. DeSanto kept on writing songs and recorded for a few more labels without much success. She eventually moved back to the Bay Area, settling in Oakland.
Though it has often been said that her stage performances far surpassed her studio recordings, a full-length live recording, Classic Sugar Pie, was not released until 1997. DeSanto was given a Bay Area Music Award in 1999 for best female blues singer. In September 2008, she was given a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. She received a lifetime achievement award from the Goldie Awards in November 2009.
DeSanto was married to her second husband Jesse Earl Davis for 27 years. In October 2006, Davis died attempting to extinguish a fire that destroyed their apartment in Oakland, California.
(Edited from Wikipedia & AllMusic)