Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton (December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984), c. 1950.Big Ma
Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton (December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984), c. 1950.Big Mama Thornton, who was born ninety years ago today, was a groundbreaking American rhythm-and-blues artist. In 1952, Thornton was the first artist to record Lieber & Stoller’s “Hound Dog,” her biggest hit, though her work was overshadowed when Elvis Presley recorded the song three years later.According to most, including Thornton herself, Big Mama’s voice was unlike anything that came before. As Maureen Mahon explained, Thornton’s deep and powerful singing “tapped into a liberated black feminist persona, through which she freed herself from many of the expectations of musical, lyrical, and physical practice for black women.” From the start of her career, both in appearance and in her music, Thornton transgressed the rigid social boundaries of gender expression. She wore traditionally masculine clothing, led her male musicians with an iron fist, and sang about sex in an era when even men—and certainly black men—had to be cautious.And, while Presley’s version of “Hound Dog” may be better known than Thornton’s, many—including Thornton—were unimpressed. As one modern critic summarized: “when Elvis covered ‘Hound Dog’ in 1956, he usurped black art in its purest form and refined it into a form deemed acceptable to the Western world. His jerky, crotch-centric movements…co-opt and rip-off Thornton’s image of feminine masculinity and devalues it from an expression of liberation to an expression of domination.” Whereas Thornton’s “hound dog” was a cheating lover with whom the liberated black woman had had enough, Presley’s subject was the female herself (a female dog, in other words). “Hound Dog” made Elvis Presley a star (and a millionaire), yet he refused to ever acknowledge Thornton’s influence.In the late 1960s, Janis Joplin’s recording of Thornton’s “Ball ‘n’ Chain” brought renewed interest to the former’s work. But, by the 1970s, the end of the American blues revival and years of heavy drinking took their toll on Thornton’s health.Big Mama Thornton was found dead in a Los Angeles boarding house on July 25, 1984; she was fifty-seven. #lgbthistory #HavePrideInHistory #BigMamaThornton -- source link
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