Shirley Goodman (June 19, 1936–July 5, 2005) and Leonard Lee (June 29, 1936–October 23, 1976) were two singers from New Orleans who jointly became known as the “Sweethearts of the Blues.” Born ten days apart, they met when they were children, and both of them sang in their Baptist church. They were discovered by studio owner Cosimo Matassa, who heard Goodman and Lee as part of a school singing group when they were thirteen years old. Matassa got Aladdin Records owner Eddie Messner interested in pairing them as a duo, and New Orleans veteran producer Dave Bartholomew produced their first recording, “I’m Gone,” in 1952, and backed the teenaged singers with many of the most skilled session musicians in New Orleans at the time, including saxophonists Alvin “Red” Tyler, Herb Hardesty and Lee Allen, bassist Frank Fields, and drummer Earl Palmer. “I’m Gone” climbed to No.