Mamie Smith

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Mamie Smith (born May 26, 1891 in Cincinnati , Ohio as Mamie Robinson , † October 30, 1946 in New York ) was an American vaudeville singer, dancer, pianist, guitarist and actress.

Smith performed in various shows until she made recordings with Okeh Records in 1920 . As the first blues singer and black artist, she celebrated a million-dollar success with Crazy Blues , which laid the foundation for the careers of many other artists such as Bessie Smith or Ma Rainey .

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Singles
Crazy Blues
  R&BTemplate: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / country wrong 3 1920 (11 weeks)
Fare Thee Honey Blues
  R&BTemplate: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / country wrong 9 1921 (2 weeks)
Royal Garden Blues
  R&BTemplate: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / country wrong 13 1921 (1 week)
You Can't Keep a Good Man Down
  R&BTemplate: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / country wrong 4th 1921 (5 weeks)
Dangerous blues
  R&BTemplate: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / country wrong 6th 1921 (3 weeks)
Lonesome Mama Blues
  R&BTemplate: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / country wrong 6th 1922 (4 weeks)
You Can't Have Him, I Don't Want Him, Didn't Love Him Anyhow Blues
  R&BTemplate: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / country wrong 13 1923 (1 week)
You've Got to See Mama Ev'ry Night
  R&BTemplate: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / country wrong 13 1923 (1 week)
The first recording of sung blues: Mamie Smith & Her Jazz Hounds - Crazy Blues
OKeh- 78er Mamie Smith "Royal Garden Blues"

Life

Early years

Little is known about Mamie Robinson's early life. At first there was uncertainty about her date of birth, which was dated to May 26, 1883 in various sources. In 2018, however, the New York Times Magazine journalist John Jeremiah Sullivan found her real birth certificate after research, according to which she was born on May 26, 1891 on Perry Street in Cincinnati , Ohio . She is said to have lived in her hometown until she was 15.

Robinson was gifted in dancing , at the age of ten she joined the Four Dancing Mitchells . This was followed by inclusion in "Salem Tutt-Whitney's Smart Set", a revue troupe with which they went on tour.

At the age of 20, around 1911, according to other information in 1912 or around 1913, she married her first husband William "Smithy" or "The Sweet Singing Smitty" Smith. From now on, starting around 1913, she lived in the district of Harlem in New York , where she worked as cabaret worked singer. From 1918 she appeared in Perry Bradford's musical Made in Harlem at the Lincoln Theater.

Career

Bradford wanted her to record some of his songs. For this he had her first record the song That Thing Called Love with Victor, but the recording was discarded. In February 1920, on Bradford's initiative, Smith stepped in for Okeh Records for Sophie Tucker , who fell ill shortly before the contract was signed. In other representations Tucker is not mentioned in this context. Producer Fred Hager hesitated at first, probably also because he was advised not to record with Afro-American musicians. Finally persuaded, he let Smith record the tracks That Thing Called Love and You Can't Keep A Good Man Down . Contrary to Bradford's representations, the pianist Willie The Lion Smith described that he had helped her to record with Okeh through Ralph Peer . He became aware of her through her husband.

Eventually, she was invited to a second session where her Jazz Hounds recorded the tracks Crazy Blues and It's Right Here For You, If You Don't Get It, 'Tain't No Fault of Mine , with her Jazz Hounds on August 10, 1920 . The Jazz Hounds at the time were Johnny Dunn on cornet , Dope Andrews on trombone, Leroy Parker on violin and Willie The Lion Smith on piano. The Jazz Hounds also included Buster Bailey , Coleman Hawkins , Cecil Carpenter , Elmer Snowden , Bubber Miley and Curtis Mosby .

To everyone's surprise, Crazy Blues became the first blues recording by a black artist to sell more than a million copies in a year. Many of the buyers were African-Americans , a market that has so far been neglected. This unexpected success prompted other record companies to take on more blues singers and thus usher in the era of classic women's blues.

More blues recordings followed. In 1921, Smith separated from Bradford. In 1924 she moved to the Ajax label , to Victor in 1926 , and back to Okeh from 1929. Mamie Smith toured the States and Europe with her group Mamie Smith & Her Jazz Hounds as part of the revue Mamie Smith's Struttin 'Along Review . She was nicknamed "Queen of the Blues".

In 1929, Smith starred in an early talkie, Jail House Blues . She performed in New York nightclubs in the 1930s. Due to the growing popularity of other blues artists such as Ma Rainey or Bessie Smith , she retired in 1931 after further music recordings, but appeared occasionally in theaters and clubs. From 1939 she played again in several films, such as Paradise in Harlem .

Private and death

Mamie Smith was married two more times after William Smith, allegedly also to the film producer Jack Goldberg . Due to the success of her blues recordings, she was able to afford jewels and clothes as well as securities and a farm in the southern United States, as the Chicago Defender reported in 1955. However, due to the global economic crisis that started in 1929, she lost large parts of her fortune.

In 1944, Mamie Smith was first admitted to a New York hospital because of illness. She died in 1946 after a long illness there, as is reported, impoverished.

She was first buried without a tombstone in the Frederick Douglas Memorial Park Cemetery on Staten Island . In 1964, with the support of the singer Victoria Spivey, a donation campaign was started for a memorial stone in New York's Celebrity Club, the stone was made in Germany. Another campaign was started in 2014 by Michael Cala, the gravestone was inaugurated in September 2014 with musical accompaniment.

Web links

References and comments

  1. a b c Tessa DiTirro WKRC: Researchers confirm blues legend Mamie Smith was born in Cincinnati. November 15, 2018, accessed August 14, 2020 .
  2. a b c d Addison: Mamie Smith. In: Blues Foundation. Retrieved August 14, 2020 (American English).
  3. All plates 78er. Individual references for US Billboard Black: Gerhard Klußmeier: Jazz in the Charts. Another view on jazz history. Liner notes and booklet for the 100 CD edition. Membrane International, ISBN 978-3-86735-062-4 .
  4. ^ For example, in New Grove Dictionary of Jazz.
  5. a b c d e f MAMIE SMITH. In: All About Blues Music. May 26, 2013, Retrieved August 14, 2020 (American English).
  6. a b c d e Library of Congress - Crazy Blues. Retrieved on August 14, 2020 .
  7. Cincinnati's own, Mamie Smith. Retrieved on August 14, 2020 .
  8. ^ A b Carla Garner: Mamie Smith (1883-1946) •. January 16, 2011, accessed August 14, 2020 (American English).
  9. ^ Il ya 100 ans, Mamie Smith enregistrait le premier disque vocal de blues. In: France Musique. Accessed August 14, 2020 (French).
  10. a b Blues Online ( Memento from June 18, 2003 in the Internet Archive )
  11. a b Blues pioneer Mamie Smith finally rests in peace on Staten Island after gravestone dedication. September 15, 2014, accessed on August 14, 2020 .