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<title>Top Classic Female Blues Artists on Rhapsody Online</title>
<dateCreated>Sun Nov 29 05:59:29 PST 2009</dateCreated>
<dateModified>Sun Nov 29 05:59:29 PST 2009</dateModified>
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<outline type="include" text="Etta James" description="From the mid-1950s to the present, Etta James' powerful, soul-charged voice has become deeper and rougher, with a rich texture and heartfelt inflections. It goes without saying that the woman known as &quot;Mama&quot; is aging like California wine, and she can still open wounds in her songs and come out standing strong. When she was five years old, Jamesetta Hawkins amazed the congregation of her church choir. When she belted out Gospel songs with absolute spiritual fervor, it was clear that the child was a musical prodigy. Her career as a singer began when she recorded &quot;The Wallflower&quot; with Johnny Otis in 1954 for Modern Records. A year later, the song topped the charts. In 1960, she moved to Chess Records and soon began cranking out hits such as the driving, jiving, southern soul smash &quot;Tell Mama,&quot; which Janis Joplin covered later that decade. Since then, she has recorded for Island and Elektra, experimenting with rock and jazz, but always returning to her Gospel-soaked roots and southern soul.
- Eric Shea" category="Soul" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/etta-james/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Dinah Washington" description="A great jazz and pop vocalist who excelled at the blues, Dinah Washington had a sharp, powerful voice that she wielded with knife-like precision. Washington's open and direct (yet smartly controlled) style was extremely popular throughout the 1950s with black audiences, and by the late-'50s she had crossed over to the white pop market with big hits such as &quot;What A Diff'rence A Day Makes,&quot; which combined a jazz and blues feel with Nashville-style arrangements. Washington loved after hour jam sessions, and also released a stellar series of jazz albums on Mercury (now Verve Records) that included many of the greatest musicians of the day. Known for her full figure, strong personality, hard-living lifestyle, and multiple marriages, Washington was something of an Elisabeth Taylor/Marilyn Monroe for the African-American community: always in the news, she was almost as famous for newspaper headlines, funny quips, and her fun fashion sense as she was for her music. She died of an accidental overdose while going on a crash diet in December 1963. Washington rightly remains extremely popular in jazz and vocal circles, and she's a major influence on R&amp;B in general and artists such as Ray Charles, Etta James and Aretha Franklin in particular.
- Nick Dedina" category="Pop Standards" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/dinah-washington/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Esther Phillips" description="Phillips was a wonderful vocalist who moved from '50s R&amp;B to '60s blues-drenched soul to '70s jazz. With the exception of her foray into Disco, she worked well in so many musical fields because her voice reflected a time when popular music was truly as diverse as her career.
- Nick Dedina" category="Classic R&amp;B" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/esther-phillips/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Koko Taylor" description="Veteran blues singer and reigning queen of Chicago Blues, Koko Taylor has an earthshakingly powerful voice that can swoop from a raspy low groan to gritty, paint-peeling high notes with amazing power. She has often been paired with powerful and distinctive guitar players such as Buddy Guy and Lonnie Brooks over the years, but her hard-rocking, visceral style is more than a match for any artist whom she shares the stage or recording studio with. Born in Memphis, Tenn., Taylor moved to Chicago at age 18 and eventually fell in with songwriter extrodinaire Willie Dixon, who became her mentor of sorts. Her 1966 recording of his &quot;Wang Dang Doodle&quot; was the last charting song for Chess Records. She has recorded steadily over the years, most consistently for Alligator Records. Live, she is an arresting presence, stalking the stage in sequined dresses sporting a mouth full of gleaming gold caps.
- Tom Heyman" category="Electric Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/koko-taylor/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Ruth Brown" description="The incredible Ruth Brown helped create R&amp;B, and she rode to the top of the charts during the 1950s. Brown had wanted to be a jazz chanteuse, so she brought a level of sophistication to her powerhouse R&amp;B and scorching blues. She never saw most of her profits, and ended up cleaning houses when rock took over. But in the late '70s, her career slowly built up momentum again. A master entertainer, she has found work on TV, film, and radio. Yes, that was Brown as the funkily wise record store owner in &lt;i&gt;Hairspray&lt;/i&gt;.
- Nick Dedina" category="Classic R&amp;B" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/ruth-brown/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Bessie Smith" description="" category="Classic Female Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/bessie-smith/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Big Mama Thornton" description="" category="Texas Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/big-mama-thornton/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Alberta Hunter" description="Alberta Hunger was a vocalist of Early Blues who got her start singing in Chicago night clubs in 1912. Her singing was often done Cabaret style, be she could also inflect in tones similar to a brass horn. She penned &quot;Down Hearted Blues&quot; in 1921, which became the first hit ever for Bessie Smith. After making various records in the 1920s (with Louis Armstrong standing in on some of the sessions) she seldom recorded again, diverting her energy toward being a nurse. Yet once she turned 82 (in 1977) Hunter began singing jazz in New York's Cookery until 1984. In addition, she wrote the score for Alan Rudolph's 1978 film &lt;i&gt;Remember My Name&lt;/i&gt;.
- Eric Shea" category="Classic Female Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/alberta-hunter/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Big Maybelle" description="A rhythm and blues shouter, a rock 'n' roll pioneer, an uptown Soul Blues crooner, and a singer whose mighty pipes could burn down a slow blues ballad, the aptly named Big Maybelle got her start in Memphis singing for a number of different band leaders. Her career did not take off until she started recording in New York for the Okeh and Savoy labels, where she cut a version of &quot;Whole Lot of Shakin' Goin On&quot; before Jerry Lee Lewis. The song did not prove to be a hit, yet despite never topping the charts, Big Maybelle's prolific recorded output made her a very popular live act. Her last charting record was a version of &quot;96 Tears&quot; cut in 1967. She died at the age of 47 in 1972.
- Tom Heyman" category="Classic Female Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/big-maybelle/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Memphis Minnie" description="Arguably the most important of the female blues artists, Memphis Minnie performed for over 40 years, recorded over 100 sides, pioneered the use of electric guitar and sketched out the blueprint for urban/Chicago blues with her personalized style of songwriting. Minnie was born Lizzie Douglas in the Algiers district of New Orleans in 1897, and by the time she was 13, she had run away from home and was playing guitar and performing her own music on the streets and in the juke joints of Memphis, Tenn. Her first singles appeared in 1929, and soon Minnie became the biggest name among female blues musicians thanks to constant performing throughout the Depression and World War II. Her 1930 move to Chicago is often cited as influencing rising stars like Muddy Waters, Little Walter and Jimmy Rogers. Minnie remained active until the 1950s, when she retired from performing due to health issues. She died of a stroke in 1973.
- Mike McGuirk" category="Classic Female Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/memphis-minnie/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Sister Rosetta Tharpe" description="Born in Cotton Plant, Ark., in 1915, Sister Rosetta Tharpe was a uniquely influential force in American South, the first superstar of recorded gospel music. She was revered for her groundbreaking fusion of rock 'n' roll with traditional praise music, which she sang with a roof-raising voice accompanied by a virtuosic electric guitar, and she delivered charisma to spare. During a time of racial segregation and deep divisions between secular and sacred music, Tharpe blurred every boundary. She had the ear of both traditional gospel audiences and secular soul and RnB artists, and she made the most of the developing mediums of radio and, later, television. But Tharpe's biggest impact might have been felt near the end of her life, when the younger generation of musicians who grew up listening to her on the radio founded their own groundbreaking labels, like Stax and Sun, and birthed American rock and roll. Tharpe made records until her death by stroke in 1973. She died on the eve of a recording session." category="Folk/Traditional Gospel" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/sister-rosetta-tharpe/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Ma Rainey" description="Ma Rainey was singing the blues long before the phonograph was invented. By the time her voice was recorded, she had already taught her art to a legion of acolytes, including the &quot;Empress of the Blues&quot; herself, Bessie Smith. Though she recorded with such early twentieth century rising talents as Louis Armstrong and Fletcher Henderson, Ma Rainey's popularity began to wane in the early '30s, forcing her to retire in 1933. She is considered an enormous figure in the development of the blues, R&amp;B and rock 'n' roll.
- Nick Dedina" category="Classic Female Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/ma-rainey/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Lucille Bogan" description="" category="Classic Female Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/lucille-bogan/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Candye Kane" description="San Diego, California singer with a sultry, seductive voice incorporates Jump Blues, pop, early jazz styles and rock 'n' roll into her songs, and is accompanied by a tight, swinging band. She seems completely at home with the different genres, mixing and matching them to create her own unique style.
- Tom Heyman" category="Jump Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/candye-kane/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Mildred Bailey" description="Mildred Bailey was one of the best of the early jazz singers and she brought a low-key, but swinging, naturalness to the overly mannered vocal style of the 1920s. Bailey found fame with the public during a stint with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, but made her finest music with her forward-thinking husband, cutting-edge xylophonist Red Norvo -- together they were known as Mr. And Mrs. Swing. Norvo crafted arrangements for her that won the respect of Duke Ellington and singers such as Frank Sinatra and Mel Torme. After she parted with Norvo on friendly terms, Bailey went solo and even had her own radio series. She continued to sing even after being stricken with tuberculosis, before passing away in 1951.
- Nick Dedina" category="Classic Female Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/mildred-bailey/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Helen Humes" description="Helen Humes started her recording career at the age of thirteen singing the kind of double-entendre blues that the sexual revolution put an end to. In 1938, she replaced Billie Holiday in Count Basie's band, and from there went on to a winning solo career. Equally adept at ballads, blues, swingers, and pop, Humes' voice enlivens any situation imaginable.
- Nick Dedina" category="Classic Female Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/helen-humes/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Hadda Brooks" description="Hadda Brooks, along with Charles Brown, brought subtle sophistication to the blues. Classically trained, she learned Boogie-Woogie piano and sung standards and sexy tunes in a slinky, witty voice that will captivate blues and jazz fans alike.
- Nick Dedina" category="Blues Jazz" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/hadda-brooks/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Ethel Waters" description="" category="Classic Female Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/ethel-waters/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="The Kelly Richey Band" description="Richey has a voice like a Janis Joplin who took proper care of herself. She backs it with CCR-style rock and then scores bullseyes with her stirring blues. Hopefully, she won't be paying dues as long as Bonnie Raitt had to.
- Nick Dedina" category="Electric Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/the-kelly-richey-band/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Francine Reed" description="A longtime backing vocalist for Lyle Lovett, Reed records sweet, soulful blues. Rich vibrato and heartfelt wails drive a crisp, modern-sounding band.
- Jessy Terry" category="Classic Female Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/francine-reed/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Victoria Spivey" description="Blues singer Victoria Spivey began her career in Texas playing to tough crowds in nightclubs and bordellos around the state. Accompanying herself on piano and organ, she sang musically sophisticated songs that contained blunt, often sexually suggestive lyrics in the style of Bessie Smith and Alberta Hunter. She recorded for most of the major blues record companies throughout the 1930s, but had all but left the business by the '50s. Spivey benefited from the blues revival of the '60s, and she started her own record label in the wake of re-kindled interest in the genre. She recorded and performed until her death in 1976.
- Tom Heyman" category="Early American Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/victoria-spivey/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Mamie Smith" description="" category="Classic Female Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/mamie-smith/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Sippie Wallace" description="Blues-belter Sippie Wallace's recordings with jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong rank among the best of the 1920s. Those recordings alone would be enough to secure her a place in musical history, but in the mid-1960s Wallace came out of a long retirement and wowed a whole new generation of blues, jazz, and rock fans -- doing exactly the things she did forty years earlier. Like good bourbon, her voice just got richer and fuller with age. Bonnie Raitt has cited Wallace as a major influence and has covered many of the songs associated with her.
- Nick Dedina" category="Classic Female Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/sippie-wallace/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Patrice Moncell With The House Rockers" description="" category="Classic Female Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/patrice-moncell-with-the-house-rockers/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Cyril Ritchard" description="" category="Classic Female Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/cyril-ritchard/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Marion Abernathy" description="" category="Classic Female Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/marion-abernathy/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Camille Howard" description="" category="Classic Female Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/camille-howard/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Ann Rabson" description="Rabson's twinkling roadhouse piano and sultry vocals can spark life into any blues standard. Incidentally, she got her start with Saffire the Uppity Blues Women.
- Jessy Terry" category="Modern Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/ann-rabson/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Calvin Owens" description="Trumpeter/arranger Calvin Owens adds a jazz-fueled dimension to his raucous R&amp;B. Great guest spots and amazing solos from B.B. King (for whom Owens primarily arranges), sax great David &quot;Fathead&quot; Newman, and singer B.J. Scott.
- Nick Dedina" category="Modern Big Band" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/calvin-owens/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Lil Green" description="" category="Classic Female Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/lil-green/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Vera Ward Hall" description="" category="Early American Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/vera-ward-hall/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Elvie Thomas" description="" category="Classic Female Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/elvie-thomas/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Clara Smith" description="" category="Classic Female Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/clara-smith/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Gaye Adegbalola" description="On her debut album &lt;i&gt;Bitter Sweet Blues&lt;/i&gt;, Adegbalola delivers lines like: &quot;I've got big ovaries, baby / Big enough to speak my mind...I set my own rules / And I don't need balls to play.&quot; She's got an aggressive, in-your-face style of singing that's part humor and part soul, and she's backed by an excellent cast of Alligator Records house musicians. Before going solo, Adegbalola was a founding member of Saffire -- the Uppity Blues Women.
- Jessy Terry" category="Modern Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/gaye-adegbalola/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Kim Lembo" description="" category="Classic Female Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/kim-lembo/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Ella Johnson" description="" category="Classic Female Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/ella-johnson/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Julia Lee and Her Boy Friends" description="" category="Classic Female Blues" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/julia-lee-and-her-boy-friends/data.opml?rws=%2Fblues%2Fclassic-female-blues%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
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