Ma Rainey

Posted: September 9th, 2013

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Ma Rainey

Gertrude “Ma” Rainey was born on April 26 1886 and given the name Gertrude Pridgett. Her home town was in the stage of Columbus Georgia. She was born to Thomas and Ella Pridgett and was the second born child out of five other siblings who included Mellissa Pridgett her sister, who she seemed to resemble so much that the two were often confused for each other. Rainey was introduced to music at a young age since she was born into a showbiz household whereby both her parents and her grandmother were singers. The Pridgett’s did not have a lot of money and were poor. Her first performance was when she turned 14 when she performed at her local church in the church choir. In her late teens, she became a member of the Minstrel group and began touring with them.

Rainey got employment in 1900 at the Springer Opera house where she sang and danced in a neighborhood talent exposition production called “A Bunch of Blackberries”. In 1904 while still touring with the minstrels, the 18-year-old Rainey met her husband to be William “Pa” Rainey who worked as a comedian. The two got married on February 2 1904 and together the two of them went round Tent shows in the south and performed cabarets.

By 1905, Rainey had toured extensively which introduced her to many notable blues singers such as Bessie Smith and Bing Crosby (Shaw 1986). In 1912 while working Starting the year 1910, demand for black recording artists was on the rise. In 1912 while touring with a troupe from the south, Rainey met Bessie Smith who is today is known as the “queen of blues” who was 8 years her junior and took her under her wing teaching her how to sing the blues. Around 1915, Rainey and her husband toured with the Fat Chappell’s Rabbit Foot Minstrels who were later recognized as “Assassinators of Blues” who were attached to a circus cum musical touring group. In 1916, Rainey and her husband were separated, and she consequently began to tour with a different band that backed up her vocals and they were named after her now having taken the moniker “Madam”.

The year 1920 saw the first black woman Mamie Smith get a recording deal, and it was not long after that in 1923 when Rainey signed her own record deal with Paramount Records with the assistance of an artiste known as Williams. Her first recording was done with backing from her own band where she sang the song “Bo-Weevils Blue” one of her more traditional song, which is now regarded as a classic. No other singer has been able to reproduce it quite as well as she sang it, as was noted by another blues singer by the name Victoria Spivey in her song “The Devil’s Music”. Rainey, due to her tours was received well in the south and already had a sizeable following at the time of the releases of her first songs. That year also saw her record with Louis Armstrong considered a virtuoso at playing the cornet and trumpet. Rainey also recorded “See See Rider,” which is regarded as still one of the single most iconic blues songs of all times. The song was so famous that, since it was first recorded, over a hundred cover versions have been done.

In 1924, Rainey participated in a promotional tour organized by Paramount with a recently assembled band to back her. The band was put together by Thomas A. Dorsey, a former pianist who presently comes to be recognized as “father of black gospel music”. He served as both the director and manager of the band, which was known as the Wild Cats.

During her performances stage, Rainey had a flair for theater, eccentricity often appearing decked in triple chains sporting gold coins, her hair would be brushed up straight, and many of her teeth would be capped in gold. Her dress would also be long, shiny and full of sequins. She often was met by screaming crowds of a black and white audience while she sang her rendition of “Moonshine Blues”, with which she would often begin. She would often end with the song “Its Tight Like That”, which would feature the whole troupe singing and dancing. When it came time for her to sing the final chorus, she would usually lift her skirts and dance to the delight of the crowds. She probably sang a larger percentage of blues than any of her sister singers with the exception of Ida Cox who was also a vaudeville performer and later touted as the “Uncrowned Queen of the Blues” (Brown and Michael, 1932).

Rainey performed with the band on and off until the year 1928. Dorsey, the manager, left the band in 1926 due to his failing health. He was immediately replaced by pianist, Lillian Hardaway Henderson, who became the leader of the band. If Bessie Smith, her colleague, is to be considered the “queen of blues” then Rainey is to be considered the “mother of blues”. Her songs were easily relatable to especially to the black people of the time though she also appealed to white audiences, as well. Ma Rainey sang about envy, poverty within the African American community, sexual abuse faced by minority groups, and how disenfranchised the sharecroppers and southern blacks were.

In the late 1920s and the early 1930s, vaudeville shows declined and was substituted by radio shows playing recordings. By 1928, her recording contract was over and Paramount, which was itself feeling the effects of the depression only placing one major advertisement for her show in “the defender” a Chicago based newspaper read primarily by African Americans. This did not right away affect Rainey and she continued her tours without hitch traveling in a special tour bus that had her name written on the side of it. By 1929, Rainey and her troupe of 35 still performed in Louisiana, Texas, Alabama and Tennessee, but times were getting tougher and tougher for black performers and such a large troupe could not continue to perform independently. The last of that year was riled with financial difficulty, Rainey hooked up with a minstrel William Jordan in a musical comedy known as “the Arkansas Swift Foot”, and despite record appearances of crowds at their shows, it was clear that her time was up. In The early 30s, she went with her troupe to the East Texas oilfield towns where they were booked by the Donald Macgregor Carnival. Paramount dropped her from the record at the end of her contract, as her style was no longer in favor or fashionable. The emergence of the Great Depression further caused her audiences to wane.

Ma Rainey had a six-year stint at paramount records where she recorded in excess of  a hundred songs, often backed by such notable jazz players as Kid Ory, Fletcher Henderson, Coleman Hawkins and her regular band members. This was before stepping down due in large part to smaller audiences and also because of the passing on sister and then her mother. During her time at paramount, she made a name for herself as a prudent businessperson and as a proficient woman both on stage and in managing her affairs.

In 1935, Ma went back to her homeland of Columbus Georgia where she set up two theatres which she ran herself. She was also involved in the activities of her local church the Friendship Baptist Church. Ma Rainey met her death on December 221939, at the age of 53. She died from a heart attack. She was buried in the family land, at Poterdale, Columbus. Her death certificate lists her occupation as a housekeeper, which is ironic for arguably one of the greatest blues singers of all time. Her death came at an inopportune time as critics and collectors were just beginning to take her work seriously (Brown and Michael, 1932).

1983 saw her induction into Blues Hall Of Fame, the purpose of which happens to keep a historical record of those who have made the Blues eternal through their feats. In 1990, also saw her induction into the Cleveland based Hall of Fame based in. 1992, saw her induction into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and in 1993saw her induction into the Georgia Women of Achievement roll (Orr 2010). Her absolute tribute was in 1994 when the postal service of the U.S issued a commemorative 29-cent stamp in her honor. Her recording of  “See See Rider Blues” saw its induction into Grammy Hall of Fame, and also saw its  inclusion by the National Recording Preservation Board in the National Recording Registry circa 2004.

Works Cited

Shaw, Arnold. Black and Powerful Music in America. 1986. Print.

Brown, Sterling A, and Michael S. Harper. The Collected Poems of Sterling A. Brown. Evanston, Ill: TriQuarterly Books, 1996. Print.

Davis, Angela Y. Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude “ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday. New York: Pantheon Books, 1998. Print.

Lee Orr. N. Gertrude “Ma” Rainey. The New Georgian Encyclopedia. Georgia State University. 10/1/2010   < http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-876>