'Queen of the Blues' Denise LaSalle dies

Walter Reid has known Denise LaSalle and her husband, James Wolfe, most of his life.

He worked for LaSalle both at her restaurant, managing the Blues Legend Café, and working at the radio station LaSalle and Wolfe owned.

“I’d done work as a D.J., but never on the radio, and they took me under their wing at 19 years old and gave me a job and a chance to work,” Reid said.

Reid added that Monday was a sad day for anyone who’s a fan of the rhythm and blues genre of which LaSalle was a pioneer.

“She was the Queen of the Blues,” Reid said. “I went and saw her in Milan a few weeks ago when she was trying to get better, and I talked to her for a little while.

“She and James treated me like a son, and I think of them like parents. I thank them for all they did for me.”

LaSalle died at Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville on Monday at the age of 78. She’d dealt with illness for an extended time.

She was known for such R&B hits as “Trapped by a Thing Called Love” and “Now Run and Tell That.” She was inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in 2015 and had recently branched into the gospel genre of music.

She’d planned to open the Denise LaSalle Blues Academy of Performing Arts in Jackson and was still working to achieve that.

Reid said it didn’t matter if it was a visitor to her restaurant, a person attending one of her concerts or someone who simply knew who she was, LaSalle wanted to make sure everyone she came into contact with had a good time.

“I remember one time this couple came in from the United Kingdom to the restaurant and had Denise LaSalle T-shirts, and they’d met her one time before and wanted to meet her again,” Reid said. “But she wasn’t here. She was in Memphis.

“But we called her up, and she talked with this couple for a little while. She was that nice to everybody. We’ve definitely lost a good one with her passing.”

Funeral arrangements for LaSalle were incomplete as of Tuesday afternoon.

Contact Brandon Shields at bjshields@jacksonsun.com or at 731-425-9751. Follow him on Twitter @JSEditorBrandon or on Instagram at editorbrandon.