Afternoon Palate Cleanser: Happy Birthday to Sugar Pie DeSanto

Today's the 77th birthday of Bay Area soul singer Sugar Pie DeSanto. She was born Umpeylia Marsema Balinton in Brooklyn but grew up in San Francisco, and was a girlhood friend of Etta James. Like Etta she became a singer in the burgeoning soul scene, ended up touring with the Johnny Otis Revue and the James Brown Revue. In 1960 she landed at #4 on Billboard's Hot R&B chart with her single "I Want to Know," and spent a number of years a solo artist before ultimately settling in Oakland. This past June, she made a rare stage appearance at Hard French's Pride party, and hopefully she'll be making more.