List of classic female blues singers

The following is a list of classic female blues singers.

Contents: 

• Top
• 0–9
• A
• B
• C
• D
• E
• F
• G
• H
• I
• J
• K
• L
• M
• N
• O
• P
• Q
• R
• S
• T
• U
• V
• W
• X
• Y
• Z

A

• Mozelle Alderson^[1]
• Ora Alexander^[2]

B

Mildred Bailey

• Mildred Bailey^[3]
• Blue Lu Barker^[4]
• Gladys Bentley^[5]
• Esther Bigeou^[6]
• Lucille Bogan^[7]
• Ada Brown^[8]
• Bessie Brown^[9]
• Eliza Brown^[10]
• Kitty Brown^[11]

C

• Alice Carter^[12]
• Alice Leslie Carter^[13]
• Martha Copeland^[14]
• Ida Cox^[15]
• Katie Crippen^[16]

D

• Madlyn Davis^[17]
• Mattie Dorsey^[18]

E

• Bernice Edwards^[19]

F

• Ethel Finnie^[20]
• Miss Frankie^[21]

G

• Cleo Gibson^[22]
• Lillian Glinn^[23]
• Lillian Goodner^[24]
• Ida Goodson^[25]
• Fannie May Goosby^[20]
• Coot Grant^[26]
• Helen Gross^[27]

H

Bertha "Chippie" Hill

• Marion Harris^[28]
• Lucille Hegamin^[15]
• Edmonia Henderson^[29]
• Katherine Henderson^[29]
• Rosa Henderson^[15]
• Edna Hicks^[30]
• Bertha "Chippie" Hill^[15]
• Mattie Hite^[31]
• Rosetta Howard^[32]
• Helen Humes^[33]
• Alberta Hunter^[34]

I

• Bertha Idaho^[35]

J

Sara Martin with Sylvester Weaver

Ma Rainey

• Edith North Johnson^[36]
• Lil Johnson^[37]
• Mary Johnson^[38]
• Merline Johnson^[39]
• Maggie Jones^[40]

L

• Virginia Liston^[41]

M

• Ida May Mack^[42]
• Daisy Martin^[43]
• Sara Martin^[44]
• Viola McCoy^[31]
• Hazel Meyers^[20]
• Josie Miles^[45]
• Lizzie Miles^[46]
• Monette Moore^[47]

R

• Ma Rainey^[15]
• Elzadie Robinson^[48]

S

Bessie Smith

Ethel Waters

• Bessie Smith^[15]
• Clara Smith^[15]
• Laura Smith^[49]
• Mamie Smith^[50]
• Ruby Smith^[51]
• Trixie Smith^[52]
• Victoria Spivey^[15]
• Mary Stafford^[53]
• Hannah Sylvester^[54]

T

• Eva Taylor^[55]
• Bessie Tucker^[56]
• Lavinia Turner^[20]

W

• Sippie Wallace^[57]
• Ethel Waters^[52]
• Georgia White^[58]
• Edith Wilson^[59]
• Lena Wilson^[60]

Y

• Estelle Yancey^[61]

See also

• Women in music

References

Notes

1. Eagle, Bob; LeBlanc, Eric S. (2013). Blues - A Regional Experience. Santa Barbara: Praeger Publishers. p. 254. ISBN 978-0313344237.
2. Leggett, Steve. "Ora Alexander". AllMusic. Retrieved January 17, 2011.
3. "MILDRED BAILEY, SINGER OF BLUES; Noted Entertainer Succumbs to Heart Ailment Won Fame With 'Old Rockin' Chair' Big Name" in Field Discovered in 1929". The New York Times. 13 December 1951. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
4. Eugene Chadbourne (November 13, 1913). "Blue Lu Barker | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
5. Russonello, Giovanni (2019-01-31). "Gladys Bentley, Gender-Bending Blues Performer and '20s Harlem Royalty". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
6. Harris, Sheldon (1994). Blues Who's Who (rev. ed.). Boston: Da Capo Press. p. 48, ISBN 0-306-80155-8.
7. Russell 1997, p. 94.
8. Stewart-Baxter 1970, p. 83.
9. "Bessie Brown | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
10. Stewart-Baxter 1970, p. 85.
11. Chadbourne, Eugene. "Kitty Brown". AllMusic. Retrieved August 9, 2011.
12. Chadbourne, Eugene. "Alice Carter". AllMusic. Retrieved August 20, 2016.
13. Chadbourne, Eugene. "Alice Leslie Carter". AllMusic. Retrieved August 7, 2011.
14. Stewart-Baxter 1970, p. 106.
15. Stewart-Baxter 1970, p. 7.
16. Harrison 1990, p. 49.
17. Arwulf, Arwulf. "Madlyn Davis". AllMusic. Retrieved August 9, 2011.
18. Seroff, Doug; Abbott, Lynn Abbott (1994). "Sweet Mattie Dorsey : Been Here, But She's Gone". 78 Quarterly. pp. 103–112.
19. Eagle, Bob; LeBlanc, Eric S. (2013). Blues - A Regional Experience. Santa Barbara: Praeger Publishers. p. 393. ISBN 978-0313344237.
20. Harrison 1990, p. 247.
21. Bogdanov, Woodstra, Erlewine 2003, p. 655.
22. Stewart-Baxter 1970, pp. 90–91.
23. Stewart-Baxter 1970, pp. 86–87.
24. Bourgeois, Anna Stong (1996). Blueswomen: Profiles of 37 Early Performers, with an Anthology of Lyrics, 1920-1945. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. pp. 60–61. ISBN 9780899509631.
25. Chadbourne, Eugene. "Ida Goodson: Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved February 16, 2010.
26. "Coot Grant | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
27. Leggett, Steve. "Helen Gross: Artist Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
28. "Marion Harris: Hot Jazz and Black Themes for White Audiences by David Soren | The American Vaudeville Museum". Vaudeville.sites.arizona.edu. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
29. Stewart-Baxter 1970, p. 91.
30. Harris, Sheldon (1994). Blues Who's Who (rev. ed.). Boston: Da Capo Press. pp. 226-7, ISBN 0-306-80155-8.
31. Stewart-Baxter 1970, p. 94.
32. Russell 1997, p. 199.
33. Russell 1997, p. 120.
34. Stewart-Baxter 1970, p. 79.
35. Chadbourne, Eugene. "Bertha Idaho". AllMusic. Retrieved August 6, 2011.
36. Leggett, Steven. "Edith North Johnson". AllMusic. Retrieved August 7, 2011.
37. Russell 1997, pp. 125-6.
38. Russell 1997, p. 41.
39. Russell 1997, p. 127.
40. Stewart-Baxter 1970, p. 74.
41. Stewart-Baxter 1970, p. 92.
42. Govenar, Alan B.; Brakefield, Jay F. (8 August 2013). Deep Ellum: The Other Side of Dallas. Texas A&M University Press. p. 131. ISBN 978-1-60344-958-8.
43. Stewart-Baxter 1970, p. 23.
44. Russell 1997, p. 12.
45. Harris, Sheldon (1994). Blues Who's Who (rev. ed.). Boston: Da Capo Press. p. 374, ISBN 0-306-80155-8.
46. Stewart-Baxter 1970, p. 80.
47. "Monette Moore | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
48. Giles Oakley (1997). The Devil's Music. Boston: Da Capo Press. p. 73-4. ISBN 978-0-306-80743-5.
49. DePasquale, Ron. "Laura Smith". AllMusic. Retrieved October 31, 2010.
50. Stewart-Baxter 1970, p. 10.
51. Arwulf Arwulf. "Ruby Smith". AllMusic. Retrieved October 9, 2011.
52. Stewart-Baxter 1970, p. 81.
53. • Harris, Sheldon (1994). Blues Who's Who (rev. ed.). Boston: Da Capo Press. p. 484, ISBN 0-306-80155-8.
54. Stewart-Baxter 1970, p. 96.
55. Bogdanov, Woodstra, Erlewine 2003, p. 373.
56. Eagle, Bob; LeBlanc, Eric S. (2013). Blues: A Regional Experience. Santa Barbara, California: Praeger. p. 312. ISBN 978-0313344237.
57. Stewart-Baxter 1970, p. 68.
58. Russell 1997, p. 185.
59. Stewart-Baxter 1970, p. 26.
60. Harrison 1990, pp. 174–175
61. Bowers, Jane (2000). "Writing the Biography of a Black Woman Blues Singer". In Moisala, Pirkko; Diamond, Beverley (eds.). Music and Gender. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. p. 145.

Bibliography

• Bogdanov, Vladimir; Woodstra, Chris; and Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (2003). All Music Guide to the Blues: The Definitive Guide to the Blues. San Francisco, California: Backbeat Books. ISBN 0-87930-736-6.
• Harrison, Daphne Duval (1990). Black Pearls: Blues Queens of the 1920s. New Brunswick and London: Rutgers. ISBN 0-8135-1280-8.
• Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books, ISBN 1-85868-255-X
• Stewart-Baxter, Derrick (1970). Ma Rainey and the Classic Blues Singers. London: Studio Vista. OCLC 250212516