(1895 - 1936)

Esther Bigeou was a blues singer born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1895. Billed as "The Girl with the Million Dollar Smile" she began working in Vaudeville in 1913 with her future husband, playwright Irving C. Miller. In 1917 Esther appeared in Miller's musical revue "Broadway Rastus" and in 1921 and '23 would even cut her own phonograph records. Between 1923 and 1930 Esther found success on the T.O.B.A. circuit. Generally considered "a singer at the pop end of African-American entertainment" Esther Bigeou seems to have retired at the relatively young age of only thirty-five and settled in New Orleans, where reports indicate she died just one year later.