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Ma Rainey
Sign in to saveAlso known as Gertrude Pridgett, Gertrude Rainey, Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Gertrude Pridgett Rainey, Gertrude P. Rainey
American blues singer (1886–1939)
OverviewAI-generated
Ma Rainey, born Gertrude Pritgett in Columbus, was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and street artist. She was an African American woman who spoke English and possessed a contralto voice. Her musical career began in 1899, and she recorded for the Paramount record label. Rainey is associated with the blues genre and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
She died of a myocardial infarction in Columbus in 1939. Her birth name is also recorded as Gertrude Melissa Nix Pridgett, and she used the married name Gertrude Rainey. Open Library lists her as the author of one work, titled *The immortal Ma Rainey*, while Crossref lists five works.
Synthesized by Vinony from 37 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Crossref, Last.fm, Vinony collections, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1886
- Died
- 1939
- Works
- 1
Top works
- The immortal Ma Rainey
via Open Library + Wikidata
Music · MusicBrainz
- Type
- Person
- Gender
- Female
- Country
- United States
- Active from
- 1886
- Active to
- 1939
Discography
- Booze and Blues / Toad Frog Blues1924
- Jealous Hearted Blues / See See Blues1924
- Broken Hearted Blues / Jealousy Blues1926
- Broken Soul Blues / Sissy Blues1926
- Chain Gang Blues / Wringing and Twisting Blues1926
- Down in the Basement / Trust No Man1926
- Mountain Jack Blues / Seeking Blues1926
- Stack O' Lee Blues / Yonder Comes the Blues1926
- Ma Rainey's Black Bottom / Georgia Cakewalk1927
- Prove It on Me Blues / Hear Me Talking to You1928
Member of
via MusicBrainz · CC0
Listeners · Last.fm
- Listeners
- 89,166
- Total plays
- 426,796
Tags
Gertrude Pridgett Rainey, better known as Ma Rainey (Columbus, Georgia, April 26, 1886 – Columbus, Georgia, December 22, 1939), was one of the earliest known professional blues singers and one of the first generation of such singers to record. She was billed as The Mother of the Blues. She did much to develop and popularize the form and was an important influence on younger blues women, such as Bessie Smith, and their careers. She first appeared on stage in Columbus in "A Bunch of Blackberries"
Recent publications · Crossref
5 total works indexed
- ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge
· 2015 · cited 30,503x
- A Novel Coronavirus from Patients with Pneumonia in China, 2019
· 2020 · cited 22,141x
- BLAST+: architecture and applications
· 2009 · cited 20,451x
- A global reference for human genetic variation
· 2015 · cited 17,756x
- Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019
· 2020 · cited 15,938x
via Crossref · CC0
Key facts
- Born
- Gertrude Pridgett , ( 1886-04-26 ) April 26, 1886, Columbus, Georgia , U.S.
- Died
- December 22, 1939 (1939-12-22) (aged 53), Columbus, Georgia, U.S.
- Genres
- Blues classic female blues
- Occupation
- Singer
- Years active
- 1899–1939
- Label
- Paramount
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Gertrude
- Gender
- female
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- Columbus
- Place of death
- Columbus
- Occupation
- songwriter
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Genre
- blues
- Movement
- Harlem Renaissance
- Record label
- Paramount
- Image
- MaRainey.jpg
- Voice type
- contralto
Show 11 more facts
- cause of death
- myocardial infarction
- date of birth
- 1886-04-26
- date of death
- 1939-12-22
- Commons category
- Ma Rainey
- manner of death
- natural causes
- ethnic group
- African Americans
- start of work period
- 1899-00-00
- birth name
- Gertrude Pritgett
- married name
- Gertrude Rainey
- name in native language
- Ma Rainey
- sexual orientation
- bisexuality
via Wikidata · CC0
~14 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Gertrude "Ma" Rainey (née Pridgett; April 26, 1886 – December 22, 1939) was an American blues singer and influential early-blues recording artist. Dubbed the "Mother of the Blues", she bridged earlier vaudeville and the authentic expression of southern blues, influencing a generation of blues singers. Rainey was known for her powerful vocal abilities, energetic disposition, majestic phrasing, and a "moaning" style of singing. Her qualities are present and most evident in her early recordings "Bo-Weevil Blues" and "Moonshine Blues".
Gertrude Pridgett began performing as a teenager and became known as "Ma" Rainey after her marriage to Will "Pa" Rainey in 1904. They toured with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels and later formed their own group, Rainey and Rainey, Assassinators of the Blues. Her first recording was made in 1923. In the following five years, she made over 100 recordings, including "Bo-Weevil Blues" (1923), "Moonshine Blues" (1923), "See See Rider Blues" (1925), the blues standard "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" (1927), and "Soon This Morning" (1927).
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Ma Rainey” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.