Mamie Smith: Vaudeville Singer

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Mamie Smith
Vaudeville Singer, actress, and performer
Born Mamie Robinson on May 26, 1883, in Cincinnati, OH gained her professional surname "Smith" after marrying singer William "Smitty" Smith.
Mamie was the first black vocalist to record the blues. The song was "Crazy Blues" The song was written by Perry Bradford, an African American songwriter for the Okeh Record label. Sold 75000 copies of "Crazy Blues" within the first month of its release in Harlem alone
Mamie Smith's popularity and success over the years would open the door of opportunity for future black performing artists to come, especially black female recording artists.
Performed in Harlem clubs that would later become known for their involvement in the vigorous Harlem Renaissance scene of the 1920s

Bessie Smith
Jazz and …show more content…
Johnson, recording one of her most famous songs, "Backwater Blues", as well as with legendary jazz artist Louis Armstrong on many tunes
Bessie Smith was the highest paid black performer of her day by the end of the 1920s, earning herself the title of "Empress of the Blues"

Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton
Composer, pianist, recontour Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (eventually adopting his stepfather's last name of Morton) was born on October 10, 1890, in New Orleans Louisiana and died July 10, 1941, in Los Angeles, California
Earned his nickname "Jelly Roll" playing in the red-light district bordellos
His blended style of ragtime and minstrelsy with dance rhythms and would put him at the forefront of the movement soon to be known as Jazz
Was well known for his influence on the formation of modern day Jazz during the 1920s
Morton was the first jazz musician to have the genre's first published work, "The Original Jelly Roll Blues" giving him the confidence to call himself the "Inventor of Jazz"
His 7 or 8 piece band known as Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers style would lay the foundation for the swing
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