Ma Rainey

Ma Rainey was born Gertrude Pridgett in Columbus, Georgia in 1886. She started performing in local churches and tent shows, then toured with her husband William "Pa" Rainey in vaudeville before taking the stage name that stuck. In 1923 she signed with Paramount Records, which gave her a platform when the recording industry was still new.

Her recordings from that period, like "Black Cat, Hoot Owl Blues" and "Prove It On Me," have a direct, conversational quality. She worked with musicians including Louis Armstrong and Fletcher Henderson. The songs often dealt plainly with relationships, loneliness, and daily life, delivered in a voice that felt lived-in rather than polished.

Rainey recorded more than 100 sides for Paramount before her career wound down in the early 1930s. She died in 1939. Later generations of blues and jazz singers would point to her recordings as an early example of how personal experience could shape a song.