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.