Born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, the commanding blues vocalist Mickey Champion collaborated across her extended though largely overlooked fifty-year span with figures such as T-Bone Walker, Little Esther Phillips, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Ray Charles, Jackie Wilson, and numerous additional artists. Johnny Otis, the bandleader and tireless talent finder, located her in Los Angeles—where she still resides in the Crenshaw District—and she cut several striking R&B tracks during the 1950s and early 1960s that never elevated her to widespread recognition. After the death of her husband, the bandleader Roy Milton, she resumed studio work in 2000 with the Tondef Records album I Am Your Living Legend!, which was succeeded three years later by What You Want on the same imprint. Paul Vic and Oletha Rogers produced the video documentary Champion Blues about her, while Ace U.K. assembled her 1950s and 1960s singles into the 2008 collection titled Bam a Lam: The R&B Recordings 1950-1962.
