Sugar Pie DSanto receives new honor for her legendary career as a songwriter and singer

UPDATE: Sugar Pie DeSanto passed away in her sleep on Dec. 20, 2024 at the age of 89.

Sugar Pie DeSanto, the female James Brown, just released a new album, "Sugar's Suite 7" at the age of 85 and on Dec. 10, she received the prestigious Arhoolie Award for 2020.  

RELATED: Meet legend Sugar Pie DeSanto

Named after her grandmother, she was born Umpeylia Marsema Balinton in Brooklyn, NY, her father was Filipino American and her mother was African American. 

Sugar Pie’s DeSanto's latest album, Sugar’s Suite, can be
 obtained directly fromher producer’s label, Jasman Records. 

She was dubbed Little Miss Sugar Pie by the legendary Johnny Otis. He signed her to her first professional contract in 1954, after which she had her first hit record in 1959.

“While it is important to us that we do represent the Bay Area at large, we are especially proud to honor Oakland’s Sugar Pie DeSanto, who fits squarely into the richness of the East Bay, where Arhoolie is,” Arhoolie Foundation Executive Director Chris Machado told OaklandSide.org.

When Arhoolie Foundation board member Larry Batiste gave DeSanto, an Oakland resident, the news of the hefty award, DeSanto was characteristically nonplussed. “See, I didn’t come here yesterday. I’ve been acknowledged, voted on, rooted for, and talked about all my life. Been there, done that. So I didn’t fall out with excitement. But it’s a nice thing. I’m enthused and feel lucky to be chosen.”

“I’m not as strong as I think I am. I’m not worried about it, though,” said DeSanto. “I’m just doin’ what God says for me to do. I’m still tryin’ to push but it’s hard. I ain’t fallin’ apart, but I’m damn near fallin’! I do want people to know that I always gave it all I had.”

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Meet Sugar Pie DeSanto, legendary blues singer and song writer

I HAVE TO TELL YOU, I watched this video of legendary blues singer Sugar Pie DeSanto and I broke out in a great big smile. With all the divisiveness and turmoil in our country, anything that can help lift that weight off our shoulders is a welcome relief. Right? 

March is Women's History Month and NBC ran an article about four standout Asian/American women that we've never heard about that included a short paragraph on DeSanto. The other women NBC featured were:

• Afong Moy, one of the first Chinese women to immigrate to the U.S.
• Anandi Gopal Joshi, the first woman from India to study medicine in the U.S.
• Patsy Takemoto Mink, one of the first Asian/American women to serve in Congress.

A legendary blues singer, Sugar Pie DeSanto was born Umpeylia Marsema Balinton in 1935 to an African/American mother and Filipino father. Originally named after her Filipina grandmother, Johnny Otis dubbed her "Little Miss Sugar Pie" in 1955, and not because she had a sweet tooth or liked to bake. "While we were in the studio he named me Sugar Pie," DeSanto recalled in an interview, "Because I was so little. I wore a size three shoe and I weighed about 85 pounds. I was very tiny." 

Her hits "Baby, What You Want Me To Do?," "Soulful Dress," and "Rock Me Baby" would help DeSanto establish what one critic for NPR called her persona of "an assertive young woman who took no mess."

That would be enough to gain most singers a reasonable slice of glory, but DeSanto also happens to be a hilarious comedienne, a show-stopping dancer, and a superb and highly original songwriter. She's written over 100 songs, some of which have been cut by Fontella Bass, Billy Stewart, Little Milton, Bobby McClure, Minnie Riperton, Jesse James, the Dells, and the Whispers. 

DeSanto, a resident of Oakland, California, was honored with a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 2008.

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