KIM MASSIE
"When I get in front of my audience,” Kim Massie once told St. Louis Public Radio’s Nick Garcia, “I don't care if I’m playing for free or if I’m playing for a million bucks. I’m going to give you the same show, because that could very well be my last show, and you’re only as good as your last performance."
Kim Massie was known for her covers of songs by artists as varied as Etta James, Gretchen Wilson, Stevie Wonder, Led Zeppelin, Adele and Aretha Franklin.
“I know her presence will be hugely missed on the St. Louis music scene. There will never be another Kim Massie.” - Jazz singer Denise Thimes
Kim Massie at BB’s, with Steve Martin on gtr.
Kim Massie
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In memory of Kim Massie
April 19, 1958 – October 12, 2020
Remembering Kim’s ‘Way’
Until her death last year, Kim Massie’s award-winning powerhouse vocals were a signature staple on the St. Louis “blues triangle” of clubs along South Broadway, including the Broadway Oyster Bar, BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups and the now-shuttered Beale on Broadway.
It only seemed right to honor her with a street named in the area she helped make famous.
And that’s what Todd Alan set out to do shortly after her death last year. The pair became longtime friends after Alan invited her to sing at several of his birthday parties over the last 12 years. He met with Alderman Jack Coatar and former Mayor Lyda Krewson to discuss a street renaming and official proclamation day….continued here.
Kim Massie: Singing Beyond Genre
“Kim Massie is an incredibly versatile vocalist from St. Louis; from blues and gospel to rock and pop, she can sing nearly anything, and she’s sung at many respected venues around the USA. She’s been twice awarded the Best Female Vocalist of the Year Award from the Riverfront Times, and made her television debut singing “I Finally Forgot Your Name” on TNT’s Good Behavior. What follows are excerpts from a transcript of the lecture she gave to a group at BluesGeek 2018….continued here.
From Karaoke Champ To Diva Of St. Louis, Kim Massie Is Living Her Dream
ST. LOUIS PUBLIC RADIO
“Many people use karaoke as a way to feel like a professional singer for a few minutes. Kim Massie used it to become one.
In the late 1990s, the St. Louis-area native was a nurse’s aide outside Cleveland, 40 years old and with grown children, when she started entering and winning karaoke competitions. Those experiences gave her a taste for live performance. When she returned to the area at the end of a bad relationship, she decided to take a shot at becoming a full-time singer.
It’s been a little more than 20 years, and she’s still at it.
Massie’s website declares her the St. Louis Diva, and it’s a title she wears with pride. She’s earned that status, largely from playing weekly residencies around the region for two decades. Massie is an interpreter of songs, not a songwriter. And the key to her style is variety. Her catalog ranges from songs by Ike and Tina Turner to the Beatles.…continued here.
Remembering Kim Massie
Washu expert
By – “Every Tuesday and Thursday night, hundreds gather at Beale on Broadway, a blues bar and music venue located in the shadow of Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis,” wrote Paige McGinley in her 2014 book “Staging the Blues: From Tent Shows to Tourism.” “The crowd — an unusually heterogeneous group in this strikingly segregated city — has come to see Kim Massie.”
Massie, who died Oct. 12, was a beloved figure across the Midwest — a grandmother of six who shared stages with Chuck Berry, Cyndi Lauper, Nelly and the St. Louis Black Rep, among many others. Her repertoire ranged from original songs to covers by Etta James, Dinah Washington and Led Zeppelin to shouted requests she’d look up on the fly. “Don’t worry,” she’d tease the crowd. “I got my iPad!”….continued here.
Kim Massie, St. Louis’ down-to-Earth diva, is not done singing
– “Sinatra was Vegas. Lou Reed was New York. And Kim Massie is St. Louis. Sure, she flies off to D.C. or Seattle for gigs, but she’s made this city her stage, punctuating her virtuosic performances with an easy, rolling laugh as she teases her audience into happiness. For two decades, Massie’s voice has warmed up our baseball games, anchored the Big Muddy Blues Festival, rung out at Pride Fest, lit up Twilight Tuesdays at the Missouri History Museum. Until The Beale on Broadway closed this January, prompting wails worthy of a New Orleans funeral parade, she and her band, the Solid Senders, were synonymous with the club. Grief didn’t idle her, though; she’s now at The Bootleg at Atomic Cowboy. She’s also been schooling her granddaughter and great-granddaughter in how to sing—and how to live”…..continued here.
‘She’d Make The Stage Her Throne’ — St. Louis Mourns Kim Massie, Its Resident Diva
By Jeremy D. Goodwin –
St. Louis has lost one of its great voices.
Kim Massie, a versatile vocalist whose two decades of performing earned her the nickname “The St. Louis Diva,” died Monday. She was in her early 60s.
“She was the queen of Broadway,” said John May, owner of BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups.
Massie often performed at the downtown St. Louis venue, as well as the nearby Broadway Oyster Bar. Fans also associate her heavily with Beale on Broadway, where she maintained a weekly residency from 2001 until the venue closed last year. She was such a popular draw there that she added a second weekly show for 14 of those years. That was the venue where she found her footing as a professional musician — expanding her repertoire, breaking in her band the Solid Senders and developing the stamina to belt out songs for hours at a time.…continued here.
‘A St. Louis icon has passed away’ – region mourns the loss of local music scene staple Kim Massie
by Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American –
More than just household name among the St. Louis music scene, Kim Massie was proof that living the life you dreamed for yourself is possible from right where you are. Massie passed away Monday night after battling several health challenges in recent years – including thyroid cancer.
“Words cannot express what this amazing soul meant to me and my family,” cousin Wende Wilson said via Facebook. “Although we are saddened by the loss, we are rejoicing that she is turning the heavens out with that angelic voice that has blessed this world!”
Born in the Metro East, Massie lived a large portion of her life in Lorain, Ohio.
“I spent 33 years there, and when I decided to move back to St. Louis in 1999,” Massie told The St. Louis Beacon in 2013. “It was absolutely the best thing I ever did!”
The beginning of her love of music begins like many – in the Black church. She started singing gospel at nine years old. But put her passion on the back burner to carve out a life for herself and her children. In the early 1990s she discovered karaoke. In less than a decade she had become a karaoke master – which earned her countless prizes, including cash and a few cruises.…continued here.
Photos
“My story with Kim has been told many times over the years, but the very beginning story is about 1999-2000. I was sitting in BB’s listening to Oliver Sain, when this gal gets invited up to the stage by Oliver and she begins to tear through some Aretha Franklin numbers. And I was just blown away at that voice, thinking “who is this”? If I ever get another club open, I’m going to track her down! Little did I know it would be directly across the street.”
— BUD JOSTES, PROPRIETER OF THE FAMED BEALE ON BROADWAY
BUDS PHOTO’S, FROM KIM’S BEALE ON BROADWAY DAYS
BUDS VIDEO’S, FROM KIM’S BEALE ON BROADWAY DAYS
KIM MASSIE GALLERY
KIM MASSIE DISCOGRAPHY
“I was just blown away at that voice, thinking….who is this”?
– Bud Jostes, owner of Beale on Broadway
Videos
Kim Massie at the Beale on Broadway
Kim Massie “Damn Your Eyes” at BB’s
Kim Massie Live: PBS Channel 9
Kim Massie – ‘You Give Me Fever’ – JRoss TV
Band in a Box: Kim Massie performs
Stories of #STL – Kim Massie
“She was the Queen of Broadway”