WILLIE MAE
("BIG MAMA") THORNTON
December 11, 1926-July 25, 1984)
BIG MAMA THORNTON
Back in the Day
Big Mama Thornton was a "blues queen" who had a career more than four decades long, from her start as a teenager until a heart attack took her in 1984, the same year she was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. She has been called "a big, brawny belter," with a "robust, powerful voice." She also wrote songs and played multiple instruments.
As the BILLBOARD biography has it, "Willie Mae 'Big Mama' Thornton only notched one national hit in her lifetime, but it was a true monster," to wit, "Hound Dog," which went to No. 1 on the R&B charts for her. (Elvis Presley "made an even bigger hit of it in 1956.") Her version sold two million copies; "Thornton received only $500."
One of Big Mama's own compositions, "Ball and Chain," was covered by Janis Joplin, who was a "great admirer."
There is a well-packed short-long biography in THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ALABAMA, here. I have a photograph of Big Mama Thornton and Buddy Guy performing together here, and one of Janis Joplin which has a bit about a lesson learned by Joplin from Thornton, here.
Finally, you can hear Thornton's "Hound Dog" here, and her "Ball and Chain" here, in what is said to have been her last performance.
