DESCRIPTION:
Did ya ever wake up in the morning
Just about the break of day
Reach over and feel the pillow
Where your baby used to lay
Then you put on your crying
Like you never cried before
Oh lord
Yeah you even cry so loud,
You give the blues to your neighbor next door

She was born Valerie Eileen Hall in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Wellington trained as an opera singer, graduating from the American Conservatory of Music. In 1982 she took up singing the blues in her local Chicago clubs. Her work extended to the theater, where she undertook roles portraying earlier blues singers such as Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. Wellington's opera training enabled her to project her voice to theater audiences. She appeared at the 1984 San Francisco Blues Festival, on the bill alongside Marcia Ball and Katie Webster. Her recorded work blended the more traditional vaudeville approach with a contemporary Chicago blues format. Wellington appeared on a limited number of recordings, but her voice was used on several advertisements on both television and radio. Wellington's recording of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On" was used on the soundtrack to the 1989 film, Great Balls of Fire!, in which she briefly appeared depicting Big Maybelle. In the same year, Wellington toured Japan, with Carlos Johnson. Wellington died in Maywood, Illinois, in January 1993, at the age of 33. In1995, Rooster Blues re-issued Million Dollar $ecret.