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Born Esther Mae Jones in Galveston, Texas.

When she was an adolescent, her parents divorced, and she was forced to divide her time between her father in Houston and her mother in the Watts area of Los Angeles.

Because she was brought up singing in church, she was hesitant to enter a talent contest at a local blues club, but her sister insisted and she complied.

A mature singer at age fourteen, she won the amateur talent contest in 1949 at the Barrelhouse Club owned by Johnny Otis.

Otis was so impressed that he recorded her for Modern Records and added her to his traveling revue, the California Rhythm and Blues Caravan, billed as ' Little Esther Phillips ' ( she reportedly took the surname from a gas station sign ).