Denise LaSalle was born on 16 July 1934 in The Island, LeFlore County, Mississippi, USA. She was married to James E. Wolfe Jr., Bill Jones and Artic Craig. She died on 8 January 2018 in Jackson, Tennessee, USA.
When she was 13, she moved to Chicago to live with her older brother and sang with a gospel group, the Sacred Five. She began writing poetry and songs. She took the name LaSalle from a French character in a comic strip.
I may be working in a club one night and here comes a lady that will come up and tell me her problems, and lay it on my shoulder as though I'm Dear Abby. So I've become Dear Abby for these people. I get a story out of what she's saying, and put myself in that situation and what would I do about this man or this situation. And I write a song about it.
