Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton (1926 - 1984)
American singer and songwriter of blues and R&B;
she was the first to record "Houndog" (1952) which was
written for her and became her biggest hit;
she also wrote and recorded "Ball and Chain," later made famous
in the late 1960s by Janis Joplin;
because Thornton did not hold the copyright to her songs,
she made no royalties from other artists' recordings of them
which sold millions of copies, while she died penniless;
in 2024, she was posthumously inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the musical influence category.
She was of course a massive influence on Elvis. I love both versions of Hound Dog . I also loved the sample of it on Doja Cat's song "Vegas" for the Elvis movie soundtrack. Sad to read she died penniless.
ReplyDeleteA sad but unfortunately common situation where the woman does the work and a man takes the credit. Compounded by the fact that she was a Black woman in a white man's world.
ReplyDeleteShe is absolutely adorable in that picture!
The song was written by Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller, who were responsible for many other early rock and roll hits.
ReplyDeleteBasically "birthed" Elvis.
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