![]() ![]() Born Mabel Louise Smith in Jackson, Tennessee, she adopted the stage name of Big Maybelle in a nod to her impressive stature, making her debut under that moniker with the 1953 single “Gabbin’ Blues” (a No. With her enormously powerful voice and easy command of everything from blues to R&B to gospel, Big Maybelle is regarded as one of the most influential vocalists in music history. Although she only recorded three singles, Perkins is widely recognized as a rockabilly icon. It was there that she crossed paths with a local radio personality, which paved the way for her signing to Imperial Records. According to legend, the Virginia native packed up her belongings in a cardboard box and hopped a bus to Cleveland at age 17, then ended up settling in Northeast Ohio and working as a waitress. Though Presley himself was reportedly unaware of the origins of “Hound Dog,” Thornton’s version has only grown in acclaim over the years, with Smithsonian Magazine recently deeming it “an anthem of Black female power.”Ī multi-talented musician with a captivating vocal presence, Laura Lee Perkins took up guitar and piano as a little girl and soon learned to play trumpet and ukulele, eventually finding herself dubbed “the female Jerry Lee Lewis” thanks to her ferocious style on the keys. Not long after moving to Houston in 1948, she launched her career as a recording artist and later co-wrote the smoldering blues song “Ball and Chain” (a 1968 release that became one of Janis Joplin’s biggest hits). TWICE Scores Highest Billboard 200 Chart Position With ‘Ready To Be’Ĭheck out: “Strange Things Happening Every Day”īorn Willie Mae Thornton in rural Alabama, the minister’s daughter had left home at the age of 14, then spent seven years as a traveling blues singer, drummer, and harmonica player. ![]()
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