FM
Biography
Wilhelmina Goodson, better known as Billie Pierce (June 8, 1907 – September 29, 1974) was an American jazz pianist and singer. With cornetist De De Pierce she made a charming and musical duo ever since they were married in 1935 (Billie & DeDe Pierce).
She was born in Marianna, Florida, United States one of seven piano-playing sisters (including Ida Goodson), born to a mother and father who both themselves played piano. Early in the 1920s, Pierce played with Bessie Smith in a theater in Pensacola, Florida, and later in the decade played in the bands of Alphonse Picou, Emile Barnes, and George Lewis. In the 1930s she played at the Blue Jay Club, where she met trumpeter De De Pierce; the two fell in love, married, and co-led their own ensemble, which served as the house band at Luthjen's Dance Hall in the 1950s. She played in the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and was a regular on the New Orleans jazz scene in the 1950s through the early 1970s.