Singer. She was an award-winning American Rhythm and Blues Soul singer. Born Ora Dee Allen to Mississippi sharecroppers, her stardom began in the soul and blues world after she began recording in Chicago in the mid-1960s. She had left Mississippi for Chicago, finding work in a dry cleaners and writing a short story for "Tan" Magazine, before her singing career. Her first single, "A Love Reputation," on the Tarpon label (later leased to Chess for distribution), was a modest regional hit in 1967. Her success blossomed in 1971 with her smash, "Trapped By A Thing Called Love", which reached #1 on the national R&B Chart and #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song ranked #85 on the 1971 year-end's chart. In November of 1971 she was the recipient of the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America ) Gold Record Award for one million sales. Her follow-ups include "Now Run And Tell That" and "Man Sized Job" which made #3 and #4 in the R&B Top Ten and also charted in the Hot 100. Her hits continued through the mid-1970's, including "Love Me Right", which hit #10 on R&B charts and #80 on pop. With the death of Koko Taylor in 2009, she was "crowned the Queen of the Blues." She was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2011, the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in 2015, and was honored in 2014 at the National Museum of African American Music with the first ever Rhapsody and Rhythm Award. A charismatic, full-figured lady who performed in glitzy gowns, she was a gifted songwriter known for her bold, often bawdy, and humorous lyrics, as well as her heartfelt ballads and love songs. She was also a woman of deep faith who recorded several acclaimed gospel CDs. In March of 2017 she announced plans to open the Denise LaSalle Blues Academy of Performing Arts in Jackson, Mississippi. Until the end of her 50-year career, she performed live, particularly at festivals and predominantly black clubs and theaters until she suffered the amputation of her right leg in the October before her death. Her health declined after that. Newspaper articles state that her 1971 Gold Record was stolen from her home weeks after her death.