Armstrong played in brass bands and riverboats in New Orleans, first on an excursion boat in September 1918. He traveled with the band of Fate Marable, which toured on the steamboat Sidney with the Streckfus Steamers line up and down the Mississippi River.
On February 4, 1924, he married Lil Hardin Armstrong, King Oliver’s pianist. She had divorced her first husband a few years earlier. His second wife helped him develop his career, but they separated in 1931 and divorced in 1938. Armstrong then married Alpha Smith. His relationship with Alpha began while he was playing at the Vendome during the 1920s and continued long after. His marriage to her lasted four years; they divorced in 1942. Louis then married Lucille Wilson, a singer at the Cotton Club in New York, in October 1942. They remained married until his death in 1971.
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Louis Armstrong children: Meet Sharon Preston-Folta, Clarence Armstrong
Sharon Preston-Folta was born on June 24, 1955, in Harlem, New York. Sharon is Louis’ only daughter together with his ex-partner Lucille Preston. In December 2012, Sharon Preston-Folta put forward claims that she was Louis Armstrong’s daughter, which was later confirmed to be true. Sharon Preston-Folta’s profession at the moment is of a sales executive, chef, and author of books. Sharon’s parents are not in this world anymore, as her father passed away in 1971, and her mother Lucille died in 2017. But she is continuing their rich legacy by working hard and being successful in her professional life.
Louis and his wife adopted a three-year-old boy, Clarence, whose mother, Armstrong’s cousin Flora, had died soon after giving birth. Clarence Armstrong was mentally disabled as a result of a head injury at an early age, and Armstrong spent the rest of his life taking care of him. Clarence died on October 15, 1998.
