With the success of her early recordings, Rainey took part in a Paramount promotional tour that featured a newly assembled back-up band. In , pianist and arranger Thomas A. Serving as both director and manager, Dorsey assembled able musicians who could read arrangements as well as play in a down "home blues" style.
Rainey's tour debut at Chicago's Grand Theater on State Street marked the first appearance of a "down home" blues artist at the famous southside venue. Draped in long gowns and covered in diamonds and a necklace of gold pieces, Rainey had a powerful command over her audiences. She often opened her stage show singing "Moonshine Blues" inside the cabinet of an over-sized victrola, from which she emerged to greet a near-frantic audience.
She was in the spotlight. She possessed listeners; they swayed, they rocked, they moaned and groaned, as they felt the blues with her. Though the TOBA and vaudeville circuits had gone into decline by the early s, Rainey still performed, often resorting to playing tent shows. Following the death of her mother and sister, Rainey retired from the music business in and settled in Columbus. For the next several years, she devoted her time to the ownership of two entertainment venues — the Lyric Theater and the Airdome — as well as activities in the Friendship Baptist Church.
A great contributor to America's rich blues tradition, Rainey's music has served as inspiration for African American poets such as Hughes and Sterling Brown, the latter of whom paid tribute to the majestic singer in the poem "Ma Rainey," which appeared in his collection Southern Road. In Black Pearls , Daphane Harrison praised Rainey as the first great blues stage singer: "The good-humored, rollicking Rainey loved life, loved love, and most of all loved her people.
Her voice bursts forth with a hearty declaration of courage and determination — a reaffirmation of Black life. We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! Subscribe to the Biography newsletter to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives. Ma Barker was the matriarch of the Barker-Karpis Gang, whose spree of kidnappings, murderers and bank robberies led to her and its members' violent deaths.
Life as a traveling entertainer was not easy for African Americans in the early decades of the twentieth century. TOBA was well known for its exploitative working conditions and the low wages it paid African-American performers. She attracted large audiences of adoring fans across the South and Midwest.
Her performances drew racially mixed though still segregated audiences, demonstrating her wide appeal. Her two-hour show usually began with jazz numbers by the band and a performance by a line of chorus girls. Rainey signed a recording contract with Paramount Records in , making her one of the earliest recorded blues musicians. Between and , she recorded almost records, many of them national hits that are now part of the American musical canon.
She was a mentor to the legendary blues singer Bessie Smith, and the two were rumored to have had a romantic relationship. It was a Broadway success and was recently adapted as a film. Rainey made her home in Chicago for much of the s and early s. When she lost her recording contract with Paramount the company claimed her style of blues had fallen out of fashion she resumed touring and performed at private parties.
Following the deaths of her sister and mother, Rainey returned to Columbus, Georgia to live with her brother. She owned and managed two theaters and was active in the Friendship Baptist Church, where her brother was a deacon. Rainey passed away from heart disease on December 22, at the age of Accessed Jan. Obrecht, Jas. Smith bailed her out of jail. After nearly twenty years of dramatic performances on the stage, Rainey signed a contract with Paramount records in , only three years after the first blues recording was produced.
She recorded almost records between and with a wide variety of the best contemporary musicians, including a young Louis Armstrong. During this period, she continued to travel and perform across the South and occasionally in Chicago where she recorded. Other music forms gained popularity in the late s, and as the Great Depression set in the demand for performers almost disappeared. Rainey retired to Columbus, Georgia in after the death of her sister and mother.
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