Rhythm and Blues singer Savannah Valentine Churchill surged to national prominence in 1945 with her hit song, “Daddy, Daddy.” Churchill was born Savannah Valentine Roberts on August 21, 1920, in Colfax, Louisiana to Creole parents, Emmett Roberts and Hazel Hickman. An only child, her parents took her to Brooklyn, New York at the age of three. She attended St. Peter Claver Catholic School, where she played violin and sang with the choir.
Churchill graduated from Brooklyn’s Girls High School in Bedford Stuyvesant in 1937 and learned dress design at New York University. The following year, she married David Churchill, and they had two sons, Gregory Johnson and Michael Johnson. She began singing professionally at Small’s Paradise in Harlem, earning $18 weekly. She also traveled to Washington, D.C., to perform at the Crystal Caverns. She became a widow in 1941 when David Churchill died in an automobile accident.
The following year, 1942, she released her first hit, “Hurry, Hurry” on the Capital label. It peaked at No. 3 on the R&B chart. She then released the first of two risqué tunes “Fat Meat Is Good Meat” and “Two Faced Man” on Beacon Records label. In 1945, the hit song “Daddy Daddy,” written by Churchill and Irving Berman, peaked at No. 3 on the R&B chart.
The song was recorded with the Benny Carter Orchestra which then included the legendary percussionist, Max Roach.
In 1947, Churchill sang a composition written by her backup baritone singer. William “Pat” Best, titled “I Want To Be Loved.” It sold more than four million copies, and it remained on the charts for eight weeks, becoming her biggest hit. By 1951, Churchill’s “(It’s no) Sin,” on RCA Victor Records, was out, followed by the Decca record label “Shake A Hand “and “Shed a Tear.” That same year (1951), she married Jesse Johnson, an insurance executive in Columbus, Ohio. She continued touring however and appeared at the world-famous London Palladium in the United Kingdom, the Apollo Theater in Harlem, the Regal Theater Chicago, and Washing D.C.’s Howard Theater where she was the main attraction.
In 1953, Churchill, backed by the Ray Charles singers, performed “Peace of Mind,” which was released on the Decca label. Afterward, she was featured on the cover of Jet, the weekly African American magazine. In 1956, Argo Records released two of Churchill’s hits, “They Call Me A Fool” and “Let Me Be the First One to Know.”
Churchill’s performing arts career slowed down later in 1956 after her pelvis was broken when an intoxicated fan fell from a balcony directly on top of her at the Midwood Club in Brooklyn. This tragic incident affected her physically and emotionally. She never fully recovered from the accident, nor was compensated for her injury.
In 1960, Churchill recorded the album, Time Out for Tears, on Philadelphia’s Jamie label.
Fourteen years later, Churchill fell down a flight of stairs in her home, breaking her hip. She also developed cancer of her esophagus, Savannah Churchill died of pneumonia on April 19, 1974, in Brooklyn, New York. She was 53.