Lottie Gee

Lottie Gee, born Charlotte O. Gee on August 17, 1886, in Millboro, Virginia, was an American entertainer whose career spanned vaudeville, Broadway, and international touring during the Harlem Renaissance. She died on January 13, 1973, in Los Angeles.

Gee began her performing career as a dancer in productions associated with Aida Overton Walker, appearing in Walker's The Red Moon in 1904. She subsequently traveled the vaudeville circuit in a variety of acts. Around 1910, composer Ford Dabney (1883–1958) and violinist Willie Carroll (né William Thomas Carroll; 1881–1943) organized a series of touring vaudeville groups, one of which paired Gee with Effie King — the stage name of Anna Green (1888–1944) — in an act called Dabney's Ginger Girls. Gee performed as dancer and soprano while King served as dancer and contralto. The duo made its debut at Dabney's Theater in Washington, D.C., before embarking on a tour.

Gee's Broadway career ran from 1921 to 1924. Her most prominent stage credit was the 1921 musical Shuffle Along, in which she introduced the song "I'm Just Wild About Harry." The production was a significant Broadway success and helped launch the careers of both Josephine Baker and Florence Mills. Gee returned to Broadway with The Chocolate Dandies in 1924. In 1925, she joined the Chocolate Kiddies as a featured performer on its European tour.

In 1927, Gee served as an honorary pallbearer at the funeral of Florence Mills. The following year, she and Edith Spencer formed a partnership billed as Harlem's Sweethearts. Allegretti Anderson (1898–1944) later joined them, expanding the act into a trio that performed under several names, including Harmony Trio, the Creole Beauties, and the Three Dark Sisters.

Gee was married at least twice. From 1913 to 1924, she was married to pianist Wilson Harrison Kyer (1888–1982), known professionally as "Peaches" Kyer. On October 7, 1967, in Los Angeles, she married Joseph B. Moy (1887–1986). She was also a longtime companion of composer Eubie Blake (1887–1983). Gee was the grandaunt of Grammy and Tony Award winner Dee Dee Bridgewater. In 2016, Audra McDonald portrayed Gee in the Broadway production Shuffle Along, Or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed.