Ma Rainey

Happy Birthday, Ma Rainey (Gertrude Pridget) 1886-1939)..."Born in a trunk" to parents who worked the minstrel shows in the south, Rainey made her stage debut at age 12 in a talent contest and began to perform in traveling tent shows soon after that. As the shows toured the south, Rainey got her first exposure to the blues. At the age of 16 she married another performer, William Rainey and they began calling themselves "Ma" and "Pa" Rainey and were billed as "Rainey and Rainey, Assassionators of the Blues". Their act was the first to included authentic blues songs with the popular music of the day. Author Daphane Harrison  noted,"Her ability to capture the mood and essence of black rural southern life of the 1920's quickly endeared her to throngs of followers throughout the south."

The Rainey's toured with Tolliver's Circus, The Musical Extravaganza and The Rabbit Foot Minstrels where Ma Rainey would befriend a young Bessie Smith. Rainey, with her gold teeth and ample figure would be known as the ugliest woman in show business, while Smith was billed as the most beautiful. In 1916, Rainey separated with her husband and began to tour with her own band, Madame Gertrude "Ma" Rainey and Her Georgia Smart Sets featuring a chorus line and a Cotton Blossoms show. Her nickname "Madame" came from the often bawdy songs she sang dealing with love and sexuality.

In 1920, when Mamie Smith became the first black woman to record, the record companies rushed to find the next Blues Star, creating the great decade of female blues singers. Rainey was signed by Paramount in 1923 and made her first 8 recordings in Chicago including "Bo-Weevil Blues". "Bad Luck Blues and Moonshine Blues."She would go on to make over 100 more recordings over the next five years giving her presence far beyond the South. She was accompanied on the recordings by many noted jazz musicians including Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson, Kid Ory, Lovie Austin and Coleman Hawkins as well as bluesmen Tampa Red and Blind Blake. Her tours of the South and Midwest were sensational money makers and Rainey was able to save enough money to not only buy her own tour bus but to purchase two theaters in her hometown of Columbus, Georgia. When her energetic, moaning style of blues singing fell out of popularity in the early 30's she was able to retire in comfort. She died of heart failure at the age of 53.

Rainey left behind a monumental recorded legacy which continues to inspire and influence blues, country western and rock and roll musicians to this day.