Leigh ‘Little Queenie’ Harris was one of New Orleans’ boldest, most arresting singers since her days fronting Little Queenie & the Percolators in the mid 70’s and 80’s. Inducted into Louisiana’s Music Hall of Fame in 2019, she was a true New Orleans legend, a dynamic performer, able to take any song and make it her own. She commanded the stage, from small venues to huge festivals worldwide. A gifted songwriter, she belted out tunes in a style that only can be called “New Orleans” – a little gospel, a lot of soul, a dollop of second line funk, and a heaping helping of jazz, her talents unfolding in layers as she nurtured her interpretive gifts for jazz, blues, gospel, standards and her own songs.
After a long battle with cancer, the singer died on Saturday, September 21, 2019 at the age of 65. Battling the disease since her diagnosis in 2016, Harris had been living in hospice care in North Carolina. As reported to OffBeat, Harris had moved to Greensboro, NC after losing her New Orleans home in Hurricane Katrina, even though her relationship with the city remained strong. In May 2016, Debbie Davis, the local jazz singer, hosted Gawd Save the Queen, a benefit concert at Snug Harbor for the purpose of raising money to reduce Harris’s exorbitant medical bills.
Local musicians continue to honor the late Little Queenie Harris’s legacy: as WWNO reports, musicians are gathering in New Orleans this week for what is fast becoming an annual tribute. For three of the past four years, her birthday, July 27, has been honored with a tribute concert. Astrologer Chani Nicholas once described Leos as: “bring[ing] heart medicine, features what is fun and feels that putting self-expression first in importance is self evident. Leo can err on the side of self-indulgent, sure. Leo has been guilty of finding pleasure in Divadom, yes. Leo passionately pleas for pleasure. But, why not?? Leo needs to prove itself worthy of heroine status by demonstrating its strength, its regal nature and its formidable courage. Leo may play pussy cat, but its swat is full on lioness and not to be messed with.”
Friday, July 28, musicians will join Harris’s son, Alex MacDonald, to honor her ferocious hearts ablaze legacy. Musicians such as Papa Mali, The Daywalkers, The NOLA Guitar Masters, Lenny Zenith, Mixed Knots, Woodenhead, Phil deGruy, Darcy Malone, Tom Marron, Song Dogs, Holley Bendtsen, The Bonerama Horns, Jimmy Robinson, Alison Young, Layla Musslewhite, and Amasa Miller will take the stage at 8 p.m. at Chickie Wah Wah (2828 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA.) to honor her legacy. (Doors open at 7 p.m.). Ticket proceeds benefit the New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic and are available for purchase here.
