Biography

July 16, 1934 · The Island, LeFlore County, Mississippi, USA

January 8, 2018 · Jackson, Tennessee, USA (complications from surgery)

Ora Denise Allen

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.

Her biggest hit recording was "Trapped by a Thing Called Love" which topped the Billboard R&B chart in 1971. She wrote and performed songs that dealt humorously with sex. She also recorded country and gospel songs.

Has three children Ray Knight, Dawn Beard, and Bridgette Wolfe.

Denise and her first husband were only together a short time, but didn't formally end their marriage until right before she married Bill.

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.