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Sunday October 12th 2008 |
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Sunday October 12th 2008 |
a non-profit education organization | |
December 11
Willie Mae Thornton was raised in a religious setting in Montgomery, Alabama; her father was a minister, and her mother sang in the church. Thornton's musical aspirations led her to leave home in 1941 at fourteen and join the Georgia-based Hot Harlem Revue. Her seven-year tenure with the Revue gave her significant singing and stage experience and enabled her to tour the South, settling in Houston, Texas, in 1948. Thornton was also a self-taught drummer and harmonica player and regularly played both instruments on stage. She was singing on the Houston circuit when Peacock Records signed her in 1951. She opened recording with "Partnership Blues" that year, backed by trumpeter Joe Scott's band. But it was her third Peacock date with Johnny Otis's band that proved the winner. Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton only had one national hit in her lifetime, but it was a true monster. Hound Dog held down the top slot on Billboard's R&B charts for seven weeks in 1953. Elvis Presley's rocking 1956 cover was even bigger, which concealed Thornton's chief claim to immortality; although Thornton's menacing growl was something special. With Pete Lewis laying down some truly nasty guitar behind her, Big Mama shouted Hound Dog, a song whose lyrics remain a bone of contention to this day. Though Thornton recorded some fine follow-ups: I Smell a Rat, Stop Hoppin' on Me, The Fish, and Just like a Dog through 1957, she never again reached the hit parade. Early-'60s 45s for record labels Irma, Bay-Tone, Kent, and Sotoplay did little, but a series of dates for that included her first vinyl rendition of "Ball and Chain" in 1968 and two albums for Mercury in 1969-70 put her back in motion. Along with her imposing vocals, Thornton began to emphasize her harmonica skills during the 1960s. Thornton was a tough woman. She dressed like a man and took no crap from anyone, even as the pounds fell off her once large frame during the last years of her life. Medical personnel found her lifeless body in a rooming house; Big Mama Thornton died July 25, 1984 in Los Angeles, California. Reference: Nothing But the Blues The Music and the Musicians Edited by Lawrence Cohn Copyright 1993 Abbeville Publishing Group, New York ISBN 1-55859-271-7
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The African American Registry®, The African American Registry® Copyright 2005, 2006
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