13 May 2023

Gloria Belle, 9 June 1939-5 May 2023

The BIB learns with great regret of the death of Gloria Bernadette Flickinger, 'Gloria Belle', one of the pioneer professional women bluegrass performers, whose long career included performances and recordings with Jimmy Martin.

In 2019 the BIB referred readers to Wikipedia and to a 2013 feature by Richard Thompson on Bluegrass Today. A comprehensive biography/ obituary of Gloria Belle by Richard Thompson is now on Bluegrass Today, including tributes from fellow musicians, eight photos, a discography, and thirteen YouTube recordings of songs from successive stages of her career.

The chapter about her in Murphy Henry's Pretty good for a girl: women in bluegrass (2013) ends with a brief fable - a rough and almost invisible path through the bluegrass woods has a signpost saying 'Groundbreaking women in bluegrass enter here' and underneath, in tiny letters, the words 'Path carved by Gloria Belle'.

Update 5 June: On 31 May the Bluegrass Situation (BGS) published Claire Levine's biographical article 'Gloria Belle: a woman "sideman" who held her own in bluegrass'. The article includes five videos, and a note from the BGS editor states that the IBMA Foundation is establishing a scholarship fund in the name of Gloria Belle.

© Richard Hawkins

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