Nellie Lutcher

Singer/pianist Nellie Lutcher began her musical career in the late 1940s and worked on a variety of genres, including blues, jazz and pop. She had a string of hits in the late 1940s on Capitol, such as "Hurry On Down" and "Fine Brown Frame". She first started singing in church in her home town of Lake Charles, LA. By age 20, however, she had left Lake Charles for Los Angeles, CA, and a career in non-gospel music. She played lounges and clubs in the L.A. area, and in 1947 she was signed to a contract by Capitol Records. Her records were quite successful and she toured the US and Europe. In the 1960s, as musical tastes shifted more toward rock than blues, her career began to fade, although she continued to perform in small clubs on the West Coast. She retired from the music business in the 1980s.