1923-2016?
Pioneering R&B singer who had several chart-topping hits in the 1950s, including 1953 hit “Shake a Hand”. Active from the 1940s-1960s.
Born in Newark as Fanny Tuell and lived at 588 North 11th Street through at least 1950 when she was married to Thomas Scruggs. She performed Gospel / religious music in Newark with two of her older sisters. The Herald News mentions the Tuell Sisters. The sisters became a Sunday morning feature on the radio.
It’s unclear what high school she graduated from (some articles say Montclair, however, she lived in Newark during high school age.) After graduation, articles claim she won a chance to sing at the Apollo but her parents disapproved. She got married, had two sons, and eventually was contracted by agent Phil Moore, after working with Joe Morris.
By later in life, Faye remarried Clarence Jones and her name was “Fannie Jones of Englewood, NJ” and “Fannie Tuell Adams-Jones” in family obituaries. Some sources say she died in 2016, and this seems likely as she is no longer listed in her sister’s 2017 obituary.
Fanny had three sisters Eleanor, Phola and Anna. Anna (Reverend Anna) is mentioned frequently in the Newark Herald News and in the columns of Tiny Prince. She had her own radio show on WBHI. However, Anna was much older than Fanny and in an article in the New York Age, states that she grew up in Montclair. She is not listed on any censuses in the family’s Newark home.
Bibliography
- Ankeny, Jason. “Biography: Faye Adams”. Allmusic. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
- Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins. p. 63. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
- “Timeline of Musical Styles & Guitar History”. Acoustic Music. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
- Colin Larkin, ed. (1995). The Guinness Who’s Who of Blues (Second ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 11. ISBN 0-85112-673-1.
- Eagle, Bob; LeBlanc, Eric S. (2013). Blues: A Regional Experience. Santa Barbara, California: Praeger. pp. 264–265. ISBN 978-0313344237.
- Marv Goldberg, “Faye Adams”, 2018. Retrieved March 9, 2021
- Whitburn, Joel (1996). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–1995. Record Research. p. 4.
- Census records
- After Hours
- L’Rhue, June “A. Tuell At Town Hall” New York Age Apr 2, 1955
- “Tuell”, death notice, Star Ledger Apr 28, 1987
- “Rock and Roll At the Fabian” Hackensack Record Nov 12, 1956
- “Faye Adams to Appear at Coliseum” The Sentinel Nov 2, 1956
- Eleanor Workman (sister obit, 2017)