Women in Blues Throughout History

The first blues song recorded by a black female vocalist, was sung by Mamie Smith in 1920. During both World Wars, the ladies of the blues kept it going like their Rosy the Riveter counterparts, the day never ended. Booking the band, sewing costumes, cooking meals, keeping the band out of harm & putting on a show. Sometimes, while raising a baby. Our mission is promoting the artists of the day, but knowing our history helps us move forward. May these lists and links to archives, serve many! - CBWMichele

Find some of their stories, below. If any link is broken, please let us know. For the National Women in Blues history, click here to learn about us.

History can live through the modern blues woman.

Listen to the original "At Last" as recorded by legend Etta James. Then, breathe in Teeny Tucker's rendition of the classic blues hit. Both interpretations are beautiful, and both reflect the spirit of the blues. Performance is the act of keeping the blues alive, and honoring the women in blues who came before. Below are some of their stories. We at National Women in Blues hope you find them informational and inspirational.

MAMIE SMITH

NPR, Mamie Smith and The Birth of The blues Market

November 11, 2006

Mamie Smith was the first black vocalist to record the blues. The song was “Crazy Blues,” and it became a hit. But it happened almost by accident… more/source

(CBW Note: Prior to 1920. 3 people all recorded a WC Handy tune, including Handy. The song Memphis Blues. It should not discount that Mamie Smiths recording of Crazy Blues did help create a commercially viable market, for the blues.)

Red Hot Jazz on Mamie Smith, BlackPast.org on Mamie Smith, AllMusic.com on Mamie Smith, African American Registry on Mamie Smith, Old Hat Records on Mamie Smith, LastFM.com on Mamie Smith

IDA COX

GeorgiaEncyclopedia.com on Ida Cox

Ida Cox was a vaudeville performer and a pioneering blues singer who, along with Gertrude “Ma” Rainey and Bessie Smith, founded the female blues genre… more/source

Red Hot Jazz on Ida Cox, AllMusic.com on Ida Cox, African American Registry on Ida Cox, BluesAbout.com on Ida Cox, WildWomenOfSong.com on Ida Cox, LastFM.com on Ida Cox

MA RAINEY

Singer Ma Rainey was the first popular stage entertainer to incorporate authentic blues into her song repertoire and became known as the “Mother of the Blues.”… more/source

Biography.com on Ma Rainey, RedHotJazz on Ma Rainey, Georgia Encyclopedia on Ma Rainey, RockHall.com on Ma Rainey, About.com Lesbian Life on Ma Rainey, Encyclopedia Britannica on Ma Rainey

IDA GOODSON

When Ida Goodson (b.1909 – d.2000) received the Florida Folk Heritage Award in 1987, it was noted that by the age of 16, she had begun what she became noted for later in her musical life: skillfully intertwining jazz, blues and gospel music. Guitarist and writer Eugene Chadbourne says that blues music was banned from the Goodson family home, yet the sisters found a way to feed their soul… more/source

Bellmont-De villiers on Ida Goodson, Florida Division of Historical Resources on Ida Goodson, Florida Memory State Archives, audio interview with Ida Goodson (audio an issue…. Transcript of Podcast for our readers), AllMusic.com on Ida Goodson

ALBERTA HUNTER

Blues singer Alberta Hunter debuted in Chicago at age fifteen in 1912, toured throughout the world and sang leading roles in Europe and on Broadway. Born in 1895 in Memphis, Tennessee, she appeared in top Chicago nightclubs, including the Dreamland Cafe, where she shared the spotlight with the King Oliver Band. In 1921 Hunter made her first recording on the Black Swan label with her own song, “Down Hearted Blues.” … more/source

The New York Public Library Archives and Manuscripts for Alberta Hunter, Blackpast.org on Alberta Hunter, TheFamousPeople.com on Alberta Hunter, NotableNurses.com on Alberta Hunter, Encyclopedia Britannica on Albert Hunter, MTV.com on Alberta Hunter, RedHotJazz.com o Alberta Hunter, NY Times Obit for Alberta Hunter

BESSIE SMITH

A major influence on the development of the blues in the early twentieth century, Bessie Smith was given a challenging start to her life, raised in poverty in the then still-segregated South. She was one of seven children born to laborer and Baptist minister William Smith and his wife Laura, but had lost both parents by the age of nine and was subsequently raised by her oldest sister Viola (who was herself only a teenager and already looking after a child of her own). While still very young, Bessie, accompanied by her brother Andrew on guitar, began dancing and singing on the streets in order to supplement her sister’s income as a laundry worker… more/source

NNDB.com on Bessie Smith, History VS Hollywood.com on Bessie Smith, ALLMusic.com on Bessie Smith, History.com on Bessie Smith, RedHotJazz.com on Bessie Smith, PBS.org, Jazz a Film by Ken Burns, on Bessie Smith, Biography.com on Bessie Smith

MEMPHIS MINNIE

Guitar Queen. Hoodoo Lady. Master finger-style guitar player. Elizabeth “Kid” Douglas, known as Memphis Minnie was an intricate guitarist, an astute songwriter and a stylistic innovator. Her work (over 200 recordings) leads the way through the development of blues guitar playing, starting with her first recordings in 1929….more/source

Encyclopedia.com on Memphis Minnie, ALLMusic.com on Memphis Minnie, Memphis Music Hall of Fame on Memphis Minnie, SouthernMusic.net on Memphis Minnie, Surrealistmovement-usa.org on Memphis Minnie

RUTH BROWN

They called Atlantic Records “the house that Ruth built” during the 1950s, and they weren’t referring to the Sultan of Swat. Ruth Brown’s regal hitmaking reign from 1949 to the close of the ’50s helped tremendously to establish the New York label’s predominance in the R&B field. Later, the business all but forgot her — she was forced to toil as domestic help for a time — but she returned to the top, her status as a postwar R&B pioneer (and tireless advocate for the rights and royalties of her peers) recognized worldwide… more/source

MTV.com on Ruth Brown, RockHall.com on Ruth Brown, AllMusic.com on Ruth Brown, Biography.com on Ruth Brown, Encyclopedia Britannica on Ruth Brown, SoulPatrol.com on Ruth Brown, Last.FM on Ruth Brown, NY Times Obit for Ruth Brown

KOKO TAYLOR

Koko Taylor (September 28, 1928 – June 3, 2009) was an American blues musician, popularly known as the “Queen of the Blues.” She was known primarily for her rough and powerful vocals and traditional blues stylings… more/source

Last.FM on Koko Taylor, Alligator Record catalog on KoKo Taylor, Oldies.com on Koko Taylor, ALLMusic.com on Koko Taylor, Queen of the Blues talks about her subjects… article by James Plath, NPR.org Music on Koko Taylor, CNN Obit on KokoTaylor, NY Times Obit on Koko Taylor

ETTA JAMES

Born in Los Angeles, California, on January 25, 1938, Etta James was a gospel prodigy. In 1954, she moved to Los Angeles to record “The Wallflower.” Her career had begun to soar by 1960, due in no small part to songs like “I’d Rather Go Blind” and “At Last.” Despite her continued drug problems, she earned a Grammy Award nomination for her 1973 eponymous album. In 2006, she released the album All the Way. James died in Riverside, California, on January 20, 2012, and continues to be is considered one of the most dynamic singers in music… more/source

Bigraphy.com on Etta James, ALLMusic.com on Etta James, Rolling Stone Top 100 Greatest Singers on Etta James, Last.FM on Etta James, RockHall.com on Etta James, NPR Remembering Etta James, CNN Obit on Etta James, Time Magazine Obit on Etta James, NY Times Obit on Etta James, BrainyQuote.com on Etta James

SIPPIE WALLACE

Sippie Wallace, like fellow classic blues singer Victoria Spivey, was born in Texas and carried with her a tradition of Texas-styled blues that emphasized risqué lyrics and rough-cut, rural vocal phrasing rather than the sophisticated accents of the era’ s more cosmopolitan blues singers… more/source

SouthernMusic.net on Sippie Wallace, Lost Art of Being a Dame on Sippie Wallace, African American Registry on Sippie Wallace, About.com Blues on Sippie Wallace, ALLMusic.com on Sippie Wallace, Texas State Historical Association on Sippie Wallace, RedHotJazz on Sippie Wallace

MARY “Diamond Teeth” MCLAIN

She was born in Huntington, West Virginia, and was better known as Walking Mary and later Diamond Teeth Mary. Mary McClain was the half sister of Bessie Smith (Smith's mother was one of Mary's four stepmothers). At the age of 13, young McClain couldn't stand the beatings any more and left home to join the circus disguised as a boy in her brother's clothes. She went to Memphis, TN, worked as a chorus girl, and joined the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, where she became a featured singer. McClain spent the 1920s and 1930s performing in a variety of medicine and minstrel shows. She shared billings with her sister Bessie, … more/source

Wikipedia on Diamond Teeth Mary, WV Music Hall of Fame on “Diamond Teeth” Mary McLain, Downton Huntington on Diamond Teeth Mary, and The Diamond Teeth Mary Blues and Arts Festival on Facebook.

BIG MAMA THORTON

From The Yale University Library: Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton (Dec 11, 1926 - July 25, 1984) was born in Ariton, Alabama. Her family relocated to Troy City, Alabama when she was four years old. Thornton spent much of her time in church since her father, George W. Thornton, served as a Baptist minister. Her mother, Mattie Haynes, was a member of their church’s choir…more/source

Black Past on Big Mama Thorton, Rocky Mountain PBS on Big Mama Thorton, Britanica On Big Moma Thorton, Encyclopedia of Alabama on Big Moma Thorton, UK Magazine Far Out on Big Mama Thorton, ‘Why Willie Mae Thornton Matters’ explores the legacy of the Black musician who made ‘Hound Dog’ a hit on 19th News, Arhoolie Foundation Interview with Big Mama Thorton, All Music on Big Mama Thorton, Texas State Historical Association, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Big Mama Thorton, Alabama Heritage on Big Mama Thorton, The Thinning of Big Mama by Cynthia Shearer on Oxford American, uDiscover Music on Big Mama Thorton, All About Jazz on Big Mama Thorton, Black Music Project on Big Mama Thorton, 'Elvis' reminds viewers of Big Mama Thornton's blues hits, including the original 'Hound Dog' on WBUR, Big Mama Thorton’s Wikipedia, Multiple Big Mama Thorton music videos on YouTube

MABEL SCOTT

Mabel Bernice Scott (April 30, 1915 – July 20, 2000) was an American gospel music and R&B vocalist. She lived in New York and Cleveland before arriving on the West Coast blues scene in 1942. Mabel is probably remembered more for her 1948 hits "Elevator Boogie" and "Boogie Woogie Santa Claus" than for her 1949–1951 marriage to the featured piano player of "Elevator Boogie", Charles Brown of Johnny Moore's Three Blazers… more/source

Wikipedia on Mabel Scott, Last FM on Mabel Scott, Tims on Mabel Scott, Jango on Mabel Scott, and The Story of Mabel Scott on Youtube, Harry Minot from PPKN on Mabel Scott, Juke in the Back Episode 712 on Mabel Scott

KAREN CARROLL

Born in Chicago, Carroll started singing in church at the age of six. In her first appearance on stage, she played guitar with her mother's band at age 14. Early in her career she worked with Katie Webster and Albert King. She recorded her first song with Carey Bell on his album Son of a Gun in 1983. Carroll went on to tour with Professor Eddie Lusk in Canada after performing on his album Professor Strut in 1989. She went on to play in prominent Chicago blues clubs. In 1995, she contributed to an album with five other female blues artists, entitled Women of Blue Chicago; which is still played on the radio today. …more/source

Bman’s Blues Report on Karen Carroll, All Music on Karen Carroll, All About Jazz on Karen Carroll, Bear Family Records on Karen Carroll, Karen Carroll-Can’t Fight the Blues on Youtube, Music Brainz on Karen Carroll, Disco’s on Karen Carroll, Delmark Records on Karen Carroll

BERTHA LEE PATE

When she was young, Lee's family moved to Lula, Mississippi. Lee met Patton in 1930 and remained his partner until his death in 1934. During this time, she sang on twelve of Patton's recordings, which resulted in the recording of three of her own songs, "Yellow Bee", "Dog Train Blues", and "Mind Reader Blues". Patton accompanied her on guitar on these records. …more/source

Black Past on Bertha Lee Pate, MyDeltaWorld on Bertha Lee Pate, Bertha Lee With Charley Patton-Mind Reader Blues on Youtube, Blind Dog Radio on Bertha Lee Pate, Last FM on Bertha Lee Pate, Bertha Lee With Charley Patton Yellow Bee on Youtube, Discogs on Bertha Lee Pate, Fish Belly Blues on Berth Lee Pate, Frankly Curious on Bertha Lee Pate, Same Passage on Bertha Lee Pate

LUCILLE BOGAN (aka Bessie Jackson)

I’d like to believe that Lucille Bogan never had bad sex. That this woman born in Armory, Mississippi—home of languid, sticky Summer nights, and equally humid Winters—knew what made her feel good and was unashamed to expect it. To demand it. A child of Blues and a contemporary of Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, Bogan is an oft-forgotten but no less remarkable pioneer of the era, notable for making a name for herself as a “dirty” Blues singer. In the after hours, when bars were smoky from cigarettes and the mood hazy with strong liquor and limp inhibitions, Bogan would take the stage and sing you all the way to bed. If you wound up there alone, it was no one’s fault but your own. With Bogan on the mic, lust was inevitable, consent unnegotiable and ecstasy the end goal. I’d really like to believe she never had bad sex…more/source Article on The Gumbo written by by Tarisai Ngangura

Wikipedia on Lucille Bogan, 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Blues Hall of Famer Lucille Bogan from American Blues Scene, Lucille Bogan music on Apple Music, Lucille Bogan on Discography of American Historical Recordings, BMan’s Blues Report on Lucille Bogan, Early Blues on Lucille Bogan, Last FM on Lucille Bogan, Discogs on Lucille Bogan, Encyclopedia on Lucille Bogan, All About Blues Music on Lucille Bogan, Youtube videos of Lucille Bogan music

JESSIE MAE HEMPHILL

The late Jessie Mae Hemphill is a legend of hill country blues guitar. Born in 1923, she grew up in a lineage of familial fife-and-drums bands from northern Mississippi. She rose to popularity in the mid 1980s and had a fruitful career during which she performed around the globe, traveling mostly on her own. Hemphill played in open tunings and, having started as a drummer, had a percussive guitar style that included slapping and banging the instrument. She would also tie a tambourine around her calf, which, together with her strumming-and-drumming guitar work, gave her performance the sound of a one-woman-band…more/source Article by Sue Foley (Canadian blues artists) on Guitar Player web site

Early Blues Org on Jessie Mae Hemphill, Mississippi Blues Trail on Jessie Mae Hemphill, Wikipedia entries on Jessie Mae Hemphill, Mississippi Folk Life on Jessie Mae Hemphill, High Water Records on Jessie Mae Hemphill, Spotify for Jessie Mae Hemphill, Mississippi Encyclopedia on Jessie Mae Hemphill, NY Times Obit for Jessie Mae Hemphill, Apple Music for Jessie Mae Hemphill, Jessie Mae Hemphill Foundation on Facebook, The University of Mississippi on Jessie Mae Hemphill, DownBeat Magazine Obit on Jessie Mae Hemphill, Mississippi Writers and Musicians on Jessie Mae Hemphill, Last FM on Jessie Mae Hemphill, All About Blues Music on Jessie Mae Hemphill, Youtube videos of the work of Jessie Mae Hemphill

ELIZABETH COTTON

Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten was born in January 1892 near Chapel Hill, North Carolina. As a child, she liked to play with her brother's banjo, and pick out tunes on the instrument "upside down." Like her brother, she was left-handed, and it was more comfortable to hold the banjo upside down so she could play it with her left hand. When she was nine years old, Cotten was forced to leave school and work as a domestic in the homes of white people. At age 12, she had a live-in job in Chapel Hill, earning a dollar a month that her mother saved to buy her first guitar, a Stella. Cotten taught herself to play, first laying the instrument flat on her lap and picking one string at a time. Later, she began to master complete chords, picking the guitar upside down, in a manner similar to the way she had tried to play the banjo….more/source National Endowment for the Arts

Wikipedia on Elizabeth Cotton, Smithsonian Folk Ways on Elizabeth Cotton, NPR on Elizabeth Cotton, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Elizabeth Cotton, Music by Women on Elizabeth Cotton, University of North Carolina Research Guide on Elizabeth Cotton, Women in Old Time Music on Elizabeth Cotton, NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources on Elizabeth Cotton, Finger Style Blues on Elizabeth Cotton, Smithsonian Magazine on Elizabeth Cotton, Chapel Hill Community History on Elizabeth Cotton, Apple Music-Elizabeth Cotton, Spotify-Elizabeth Cotton, Videos of Elizabeth Cotton on YouTube

VICTORIA SPIVEY

Blues is a musical genre that originated in the Deep South, such as Mississippi Delta, by the African Americans during the late 19th Century. Blues was rooted in African musical elements, work, and spiritual songs. It consists of musical instruments like a guitar, piano, and soloist singer. The blues were essential to the African Americans in the 20th Century because it allowed them to express themselves to whatever was bothering them, such as segregation, depression, sharecroppers, and poverty. It was essential to black women blues singers because they had sung issues that affected black women, such as domestic violence, drugs, relationships, and sex. A figure that was important in the genre was Victoria Spivey. She was the most influential blues singer during the 20th Century because her music style was unique….more/source Black Music Scholar

The Blues Trail on Victoria Spivey, Rutgers University Library on Victoria Spivey, Texas State Historical Association, In Defense of Black History on Victoria Spivey, The Blues Foundation on Victoria Spivey, Apple Music-Victoria Spivey, Alligator Records-Victoria Spivey, Encyclopedia entry for Victoria Spivey, Wikipedia entry for Victoria Spivey, YouTube music videos of Victoria Spivey

DOROTHY MOORE (still gigging)

JACKSON, Miss.—“I have a song I want you to listen to,” Tommy Couch Sr. told Dorothy Moore over the phone in 1973. Putting down the receiver and stepping out of her great-grandmother’s house on Monument Street in Jackson, Moore walked to the nearby Malaco Records. Inside the studio, Couch sat at the soundboard, pressing play and letting music fill the studio with the sounds of “Misty Blue,” a slow, country tune about the struggle to get over a lost lover. The producer turned toward Moore: “Do you want to record it?” he asked her once the song ended…more/source Aliya Veal’s interview with Dorothy Moore in Mississippi Free Press

Dorothy Moore on Facebook, Mississippi Blues Trail on Dorothy Moore, Concord Label Group on Dorothy Moore, Wikipedia on Dorothy Moore, Apple Music-Dorothy Moore, Spotify-Dorothy Moore, YouTube music videos-Dorothy Moore, Mississippi Today on the Legendary Dorothy Moore, Blues Critic on Dorothy Moore, Soul Express CD Review of Dorothy Moores Stay Close to Home album, Mississippi Writers and Musicians on Dorothy Moore, Mississippi Encyclopedia on Dorothy Moore, Hit the Road Entertainment on Dorothy Moore, LastFM-Dorothy Moore, Malaco Records-Dorothy Moore, The Historical Marker Data Base for Dorothy Moore

Mississippi Matilda

I thought it would nice to share the front matter of Matilda Witherspoon Powell’s biography. The words encapsulate what is was to be poor, black, and female in the Delta from 1914 onward. Matilda’s story is one of transcendence over ill-health and the caste system of the Deep South, as well as a tormented childhood and exploitation. The bottom line is that Matilda could sing, and that meant something. She sang in the church choir at age twelve and the Florida Orange Blossom Minstrels as a teen, and then at the St. Charles Hotel in New Orleans with Eugene for the Bluebird label as Mississippi Matilda….more/source The Life and Legend of Mississippi Matilda: Iconic Blues Songstress of the Delta By Brian O’Connor with Melanie Saxton

Wikipedia on Mississippi Matilda, Apple Music-Mississippi Matilda, Discography of American Historical recordings on Mississippi Matilda, Spotify-Mississippi Matilda, BMan’s Blues Report on Mississippi Matilda, YouTube playlist of Mississippi Matilda, Find a Grave location for Mississippi Matilda

LIL GREEN

Originally named Lillian Green or Lillie May Johnson, she was born in Mississippi. After the early deaths of her parents, she began performing in her teens and, having honed her craft in the church performing gospel, she sang in Mississippi jukes, before heading to Chicago, Illinois, in 1929, where she would make all of her recordings. Green was noted for superb timing and a distinctively sinuous voice. In the 1930s, she and Big Bill Broonzy had a nightclub act together. In 1940, she recorded her first session for the Bluebird budget subsidiary label of RCA Victor…more/source Wikipedia

The Mississippi Blues Trail on Lil Green, Big Train Blues on Lil Green, Discography of American Historical Recordings on Lil Green, YouTube music videos of Lil Green, Find a Grave on the location of Lil Green, Chicago Reader article, Why did blues singer Lil Green end up forgotten, Apple Music-Lil Green, African American Registry of Lil Green, The National R&B Music Society Facebook Post on Lil Green

CAROL FRAN

Carol Fran's distinct voice and piano-playing style mark her celebrated career that spans more than six decades. Featuring artists associated with the Excello record label, the swamp blues genre is characterized by slow laid back vocals combined with Cajun and Zydeco rhythmic elements. Carol Fran performs in both English and the native Creole French language that her parents and grandparents taught her in the bayous of Lafayette, Louisiana, where she was born in 1933 into a family of seven children. At the age of 15, Fran left home to join the tour of Joe Lutcher, the Louisiana jump blues saxophonist, and his band, the Society Cats…more/source National Endowment for the Arts

64 Parishes on Carol Fran, Music Rising at Tulane on Carol Fran, The Advocate article by John Wirt on Carol Fran, American Routes on Carol Fran, Wikipedia on Carol Fran, Apple Music-Carol Fran, An Interview with Juan Ayza on Carol Fran, Gene Took Living Blues Article on Carol Fran, National Endowment for the Arts on Carol Fran, Off Beat Magazine on Carol Fran, Legacy on Carol Fran, Spotify-Carol Fran, YouTube music videos of Carol Fran

FRANCINE REED

In her youth, the Chicago-born, Phoenix-raised song stylist sang in church and in grammar school. She began singing professionally with her family when she was five and continued into her teens. She got married young and had four children, whom she ended up raising alone. She worked a variety of day jobs and kept her singing career an avocation until 1985, when some friends introduced her to Lyle Lovett. Lovett was interested in finding a female vocalist for his new band and found his singer in Reed. She toured with Lovett for ten years as a member of Lovett's Large Band, and did several TV performances with the Texas singer/songwriter. While her association with Lovett continues, she has embarked on the kind of solo career she always wanted when working the day jobs to support her family….more/source Soul Blues Music

EldredgeATL on Francine Reed, Marmoset Music on Francine Reed, Wikipedia on Francine Reed, Apple Music-Francine Reed, iHeart-Francine Reed, Youtube music videos of Francine Reed, Arizona Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame, Oxford Reference on Francine Reed, Lyle Lovett with Francine Reed on Youtube

IRMA THOMAS

Blues vocalist Irma Thomas was born Irma Lee on February 18, 1941, in Ponchatoula, Louisiana. She was raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and attended New Orleans’ McDonald 41 public school. Thomas displayed her early vocal talents as a teen. She sang with a Baptist church choir and a gospel quartet at Home Mission Baptist Church. Her very first recording was a school song, which was recorded at Cosmo’s studio with fellow classmates. At the age of eleven, Thomas won The Ritz Theater’s talent night and two years later, she auditioned for Specialty Records. Her big break came in 1959 when she captured the attention of band leader Tommy Ridgley while she was a waitress at New Orleans’ Pimlico Club. Thomas offered to sing with Ridgley and his band against the wishes of her boss, who fired her for singing instead of waiting on tables. Ridgley arranged a recording contract for her with a local label, Ron Records…more/source The History Makers

Smithsonian on Irma Thomas, Wikipedia on Irma Thomas, New Orleans on Irma Thomas, The Grammy Awards on Irma Thomas, The NY Times on Irma Thomas, WYES PBS on Irma Thomas, Apple Music-Irma Thomas, MV Helsinki on Irma Thomas, Delgado Community College on Irma Thomas, Nola on Irma Thomas, LA New Orleans on Irma Thomas, Music Rising at Tulane on Irma Thomas, Louisiana Music Hall of Fame on Irma Thomas, The Irma Thomas Center for W.I.S.E. Women at Delgado CC, Blues Access on Irma Thomas, Encyclopedia on Irma Thomas

MAMA ESTELLE YANCEY

Yancey was born Estella Harris in Cairo, Illinois, and grew up in Chicago, where she sang in church choirs and learned to play the guitar. In 1925, when she was 29, she married Jimmy Yancey, who had traveled in the United States and Europe as a vaudeville dancer. She often sang with him at informal gatherings and house parties in the 1940s and performed with him at Carnegie Hall in 1948. Jimmy Yancey was a boogie-woogie and blues piano player, and Estelle recorded several times with him. In 1943, the Yanceys recorded for Session Records. They recorded the album Pure Blues for Atlantic Records in 1951, just a few months before Jimmy Yancey's death that same year. Estelle continued to perform and record…more/source Wikipedia

JSTOR Journal on Mama Estelle Yancey, SoozeBluesJazz on Mama Estelle Yancey, Apple Music-Mama Estelle Yancey, Crown Propeller Blog on Mama Estelle Yancey, Find a Grave for Estelle Yancey, Spotify-Mama Yancey, Yancey Family Genealogy on Jimmy and Estelle Yancey, The unissued 1951 Yancey wire recordings from The University of Wisconsin Madison

GEESHY WILEY

IN THE WORLD of early-20th-century African-American music and people obsessed by it, who can appear from one angle like a clique of pale and misanthropic scholar-gatherers and from another like a sizable chunk of the human population, there exist no ghosts more vexing than a couple of women identified on three ultrarare records made in 1930 and ’31 as Elvie Thomas and Geeshie Wiley. There are musicians as obscure as Wiley and Thomas, and musicians as great, but in none does the Venn diagram of greatness and lostness reveal such vast and bewildering co-extent. In the spring of 1930, in a damp and dimly lit studio, in a small Wisconsin village on the western shore of Lake Michigan, the duo recorded a batch of songs that for more than half a century have been numbered among the masterpieces of prewar American music, in particular two, Elvie’s “Motherless Child Blues” and Geeshie’s “Last Kind Words Blues,” twin Alps of their tiny oeuvre, inspiring essays and novels and films and cover versions, a classical arrangement….more/source NY Times

Wikipedia on Geeshy Wiley, The Mystery Of Geeshy and Elvis by Mathew Ingram, Norbert Knapp on Geeshy Wiley, YouTube of Geeshy Wiley, Apple Music-Geeshy Wiley, Analogue Revolution on Geeshy Wiley and Elvis Thomas, On Geeshy Wileys Trail by Caitlin Love for the NY Times, Spotify-Geeshy Wiley, NYFOS on Geeshy Wiley

BONNIE LEE

Bonnie Lee (June 11, 1931 – September 7, 2006) was an American Chicago blues singer. Known as 'Sweetheart of the Blues', she is best remembered for her lengthy working relationships with Sunnyland Slim and Willie Kent. David Whiteis, who interviewed Lee in researching his book, Chicago Blues: Portraits and Stories stated, "she was one of the last of her genre, the big-voiced woman blues singer fronting a Chicago band." She was born Jessie Lee Frealls in Bunkie, Louisiana, United States, and raised in Beaumont, Texas. After learning to play the piano as a child, her mother refused to let her join gospel singer Lillian Glinn on tour. Instead she did later tour with the Famous Georgia Minstrels, meeting both Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown and Big Mama Thornton…more/source BMans Blues

Wikipedia on Bonnie Lee, From the Vaults on Bonnie Lee, Radio Swiss Jazz on Bonnie Lee, In A Blue Mood on Bonnie Lee, Apple-Bonnie Lee, Spotify-Bonnie Lee, Chicago Reader on Bonnie Lee

More links on the list below coming soon! If you are aware of pages devoted to any of these women, please let us know! The links below range from Wikipedia to Youtube, the artists site and more.

“Big Maybelle” MABEL SMITH, VERA HALL, FANNIE MAY GOOSBY, CHRISTINA GRAY, RUTH GREEN, SADIE GREEN aka Bessie Brown, KATHERINE HANDY LEWIS, MARIE GRINTER, HELEN GROSS, Ms Van Hunt (aka Ms Van Zula Hunt), Lavelle White, Denise LaSalle, Millie Jackson, Julia Lee, Jewel Brown, Katie Webster, Shirley Brown, Josie Miles, Queen Sylvia Embry, Rosa Henderson.