![Front cover image for Smith [née Robinson], Mamie](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.datocms-assets.com%2F29926%2F1612803378-coverart-default.svg&w=140&q=75)
Smith [née Robinson], Mamie
Paul Oliver (Author)
( b Cincinnati, May 26, 1883; d New York, ?Oct 30, 1946). American jazz and vaudeville singer and entertainer. She toured as a dancer with Tutt-Whitney’s Smart Set Company in 1912 and gained a reputation as a singer in Harlem clubs and theatres before World War I. After recording That Thing Called Love (1920, OK) in place of Sophie Tucker, and as the first black jazz-blues singer to have recorded, Smith made Crazy Blues (1920, OK/Phonola). This was a huge success and made a fortune for both the singer and her promoter, Perry Bradford; it was also important in that it opened the way for the subsequent recording of other black singers. Following its success Smith had many engagements, touring as far as New Orleans and Dallas and appearing as the featured singer in her own shows. She possessed a lively stage personality, was very attractive and had a strong voice. Many of her best recordings were made with her Jazz Hounds, a group that included Johnny Dunn and, sometimes, Bubber Miley on the cornet, as on ..
Encyclopedia Article, 2001
Oxford Music Online, 20010120
Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2001