Lillian Hardin was born in Memphis in 1898 to a middle class family. Her father passed away when she was young, so she was raised by her mother and grandmother. Growing up, Lil was not allowed to listen to the blues because it was considered the devil’s music, influencing teens to party, drink, and have sex. However, Lil was allowed to take piano lessons in the first grade to put her on the trajectory of eventually playing the organ at church. These lessons invigorated Lil’s passion for music, especially outside of the religious genre. She was even beat with a broom when her mother found her hidden copy of W.C. Handy’s “St. Louis Blues.” Throughout her teenage years, Lil played organ at Sunday school. After she graduated high school, she went on to Fisk University in Nashville where she studied music.

Without finishing her last year of college, Lil returned to Memphis briefly before moving to Chicago, where her mother had relocated, in 1918. There, she got a job as a demonstrator in a music store. However, Lil was not satisfied playing sheet music for potential customers. She auditioned for the New Orleans Creole Jazz Band and got a job as a pianist, with her mother’s single stipulation being that one of the guys walk her home after every show. In the 1920s, Lil joined King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, which elevated her to performing at the top nightclub circuit in Chicago, including the legendary venue Dreamland.

One day in 1922, King Oliver hired a trumpeter named Louis Armstrong. Lil, a beautiful, middle class, college educated pianist who could read music, was vastly unimpressed by his shabby style and terrible bangs. Louis thought he didn’t stand a chance, but the two developed a connection as Lil pressed him to elevate his wardrobe, get a haircut, and shed some weight. As their marriages fell apart, the two fell in love, and they were married on February 5, 1924.

Lil knew Louis’s talent long before the rest of the world did. She became the pioneer of his career, pushing him to strike out on his own in New York City. Because she was able to read music, she arranged and wrote many of his early recordings, like “Lonesome Blues” and “Jazz Lips.” She even convinced the owner of Dreamland to let him headline a show even though no one knew him, instead using her own popularity and name to form a group for the evening to give him the exposure she knew he needed. Throughout her work on Louis’s career, Lil was also in school, eventually earning degrees from Chicago College of Music and New York College of Music.

When Louis’s career took off, the marriage fell apart. After splitting with Louis in 1931, Lil moved back to Chicago, where she continued her own career as a pianist and songwriter, leading multiple bands and teaching music lessons. In addition, she taught French and took up fashion design. However, Lil never took off her rings from Louis, and it was rumored that neither was able to fall out of love. A month after Louis died in 1971, Lil was performing at a tribute show in honor of him. As she finished a rendition of “St. Louis Blues,” Lil suffered a heart attack on stage and passed away. Decades after harboring her secret copy of the same record, Lil’s passion for the blues came full circle. Her influence on Louis Armstrong is undeniable; much of his music would never have been written or heard by the world if it had not been for Lil Hardin. An accomplished songwriter and performer in her own right, she used her talent and network to push forward the career of another “great,” making her not only one of the most brilliant pianists to ever live, but also a hero to the blues.