Southern rock matriarch LaVera Hall, whose children co-founded Wet Willie, dead at 97
Updated May 01, 2021;
LaVera Hall, widely known as “Mama Hall” to the community around Southern rock band Wet Willie, has died at the age of 97, her family confirmed Saturday.
Born Mattie LaVera Richardson on Nov. 28, 1923, in Alberta City, Ala., she married WWII veteran Jack Virgil Hall on June 1, 1946, in Gardendale. The couple soon moved to Mobile, according to information provided by the family, and that’s where they raised their six children: Jack Jr, Jimmy, Donna, Cindy, Susie and Travis.
LaVera Hall, known by the nicknames “Bebe” and later “Nanny,” had a lifelong love of music rooted in the church: Her mother played organ and her father directed singing at Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa. She recalled learning to play the pump organ at about 6 years of age “and having to stand to reach the pedals,” according to family information. She and her two younger siblings performed on gospel radio programs in the Tuscaloosa area as children.