Sissle, (Lee) Noble (1889-1975)

US lyricist and singer. In 1921 he and his partner, Eubie Blake, joined with the vaudeville team in creating Shuffle Along, the first black musical to play in a major Broadway theatre during the regular season; it spawned a series of similar musicals, several by Sissle and Blake, and also produced their classic, I'm Just Wild about Harry.

He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He began singing with the famous Society Orchestra. In 1915 he met Eubie Blake and they toured in vaudeville for several years, performing their own songs including ‘Good Night, Sweet Angeline’ (1916). In the 1930s and 1940s Sissle was a bandleader and cofounder of the Negro Actors Guild. Sissle and Blake's songs would continue to be heard in later Broadway musicals such as Bubbling Brown Sugar (1976) and Eubie (1978).