Ruby Wilson, the blues, soul and gospel singer known as “The Queen of Beale Street,” died Friday (Aug. 12), her manager said. She was 68.
Rollin Riggs, a partner at Resource Management Group, said Wilson died at a Memphis hospital. Riggs said she suffered a massive heart attack the previous Saturday and never regained consciousness.
According to a biography provided by Riggs, Wilson was born in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1948 and grew up singing in her church choir. She moved to Memphis in 1972, and became a fixture at Beale Street night clubs, including B.B. King’s Blues Club, where she had a regular weekly performance.