Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thorton

Truckin

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December 11


Big Mama Thornton was born on December 11, 1926. She was an African-American blues singer, songwriter, drummer and harmonica player.

Willie Mae Thornton was raised in a religious setting in Montgomery, AL. Her father was a minister and her mother sang in the choir. Thornton's musical aspirations led her to leave home in 1941 at age 14 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 in 1948.

Thornton was 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 the 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. She was the first to record the hit song "Hound Dog" in 1952. The song was #1 on the Billboard R&B charts for seven weeks

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 such as "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 1960s 45 records for labels Irma, Bay-Tone, Kent, and Sotoplay did little, but a series of dates 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.






 

Truckin

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Little Red Rooster..... listening to that I see a smoke filled room filled with people getting their groove on... good song Flower.:clap:
 

Phil B.

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Big Mama is sadly missed as one of the foundations of Rock and Roll.

Elvis' cover of her "Hound Dog" really was instrumental. Too bad more people don't know about her. She could really belt them out. She probably wasn't a woman you wanted to mess with. :D

Rolling Stone



Let's Go Get Stoned



and this video shows off her Harp skills



thanks to Electric Funeral, I stole this video from his "Rock Me Baby" thread. I believe it is from the same concert as the video posted above.

 
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Phil B.

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^^^ I agree Sunny, Big Mama can belt them out!

They Call Me Big Mama




I'm Feelin' Alright



Jail (Live)

 

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