Little Queenie Leigh Harris

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, as well as her own songs. 

Shortly after Leigh’s first birthday, she was humming lullabies back to her parents; six months later she'd added the lyrics … "and I haven't ever really shut my face since." She began writing folk songs as a student at St. Martin's, and at 11 she performed at the Tulane Student Center’s folk festival. After finishing high school, she played the New Orleans folk music circuit. She met John Magnie in 1975, and they began writing music and singing together.

When Tipitina’s opened in January 1977, she joined John Mooney’s Back Door Blues Revue as a vocalist. John Magnie and Leigh landed the Monday night piano duet slot at Tipitina’s, and sensing they had something good going, decided to form their own band – Little Queenie & the Percolators, playing at Tipitina’s, Jimmy’s, the Dream Palace, and more, including the Jazz and Heritage Festival. Word soon spread and the band was playing to packed venues all over town.

Leigh sang with New Orleans music legends including The Neville Brothers; Dr. John; and Professor Longhair. She also sang live or on recordings with BB King; Elvis Costello; Sun Ra; Jerry Jeff Walker; The Guess Who; Odetta; Bonerama; Wynton Marsalis; Branford Marsalis; They Might Be Giants; The Gospel Soul Children; CC Adcock; Taj Mahal; NRBQ; Harry Connick, Jr.; Buckwheat Zydeco; The Subdudes; Pete Seeger; Asleep at the Wheel; Astral Project; Larry Sieberth; Michael Wolff's Impure Thoughts; Bryan Ferry; Anders Osborne; Linton Kwesi Johnson; Roomful of Blues; Li'l Band o' Gold; The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra; Doug Belote; Clark Vreeland; and Delbert McClinton.

She formed several groups, among them: Mixed Knots; The Boys of Joy; Little Queenie and The Rhythm and Blues Death Squad; Roy G Biv; Red Beans and Rice Review; and The Ofay Soul Choir (also known as Little Queenie's Wahini Dakinis).

Her signature song My Darlin' New Orleans was originally recorded with Little Queenie and the Percolators. When Ron Cuccia of the groundbreaking Jazz Poetry Group (of which Leigh was an integral part) added the introductory "Streets" rap, the composition transformed into the song that will forever be hers and hers only. 

Over the course of her career, Leigh produced an impressive 15 CD catalog (now on YouTube and Bandcamp) and her music has been used in a number of film and television productions. The Little Queenie and the Percolators version of My Darlin’ New Orleans played (uncredited) during end-titles on the first episode of season one of the HBO series Treme - nominated for a Grammy Award. Notably, every season of Treme included at least one of Leigh’s songs, and during season 3, Leigh is seen with Josh Paxton performing her original song 10 Carat Blues. She acted in the movie Passion Fish, and appeared in and sang I Be Blue and After You've Gone in the movie Eight Men Out.

In 2000 she was named Female Performer of the Year by Gambit Entertainment Weekly. In addition, the City of New Orleans has honored Leigh by proclaiming her birthday, July 27, as Little Queenie Day.

Leigh is recognized as an important part of New Orleans' music history by The Historic New Orleans Collection, who is now caretaker of much of her memorabilia. Search the online catalog to view Leigh's notebooks and writings, music, photos, and promotional materials.

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