Willmer M. "Little Axe" Broadnax (December 28, 1916 – June 1, 1992) was an American hard gospel quartet singer during the golden age of traditional black gospel. His most common nickname was "Little Axe," due to both his small stature and his brother William "Big Axe" Broadnax, who was a popular baritone. Early life Broadnax was born in Houston, Texas in 1916, to William Broadnax and Gussie Frazier. By 1930 he lived with his step-father Augustus Flowers, mother Gussie Frazier, younger brother William Broadnax, and younger step-sister Armatha Broadnax in Houston. Broadnax was assigned female at birth, a fact which was only discovered upon his death and leads to confusion surrounding his early life. Although Willmer was the oldest of the three Broadnax children, most sources state that Willmer was the younger of the two brothers. The fact that the identifiers "step-son" and "male" for Armatha are crossed out and corrected as "daughter" and "female" on the 1930 census may indicate that eight-year-old Armatha presented as male, and was initially perceived as such by the census taker. As Armatha Broadnax is unmentioned after the 1930 census, it is possible Armatha took on Willmer's name after his death and truly was William's younger sibling. This would mean that Willmer Broadnax as known today was born in 1922 in Louisiana to Augustus Flowers and Gussie Frazier. It is also possible that Willmer was in fact the older brother and had already started using male pronouns by age thirteen, and that later he was mistaken as the younger brother because of his high voice and short stature. Career Broadnax began his career as a gospel singer during his teenage years with his brother William as a member of the St. Paul Gospel Singers in Houston in the 1930s. The two brothers moved to Los Angeles and joined Southern Gospel Singers, of which Willmer was a member of from 1939 to 1940; the group only performed on weekends and did not tour. The brothers eventually broke off to form their own quartet, Little Axe and the Golden Echoes. Although William eventually left for Atlanta, where he joined the Five Trumpets, Willmer stayed on as lead singer throughout the 1940s. In 1949 the group, augmented by future member of The Soul Stirrers Paul Foster (singer), recorded a single of "When the Saints Go Marching In" for Specialty Records. Label chief Art Rupe decided to drop