Mattie Hite was an African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

 singer in the classic female blues

Classic female blues

Classic female blues was an early form of blues music, popular in the 1920s. An amalgam of traditional folk blues and urban theater music, the style is also known as vaudeville blues. Classic blues were performed by female vocalists accompanied by pianists or small jazz ensembles, and were the...

 style.

Her birthplace is unknown, but New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 has been suggested. Around 1915 she moved to Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, where she sang at the Panama Club, often with such performers as Alberta Hunter

Alberta Hunter

Alberta Hunter was an American blues singer, songwriter, and nurse. Her career had started back in the early 1920s, and from there on, she became a successful jazz and blues recording artist, being critically acclaimed to the ranks of Ethel Waters and Bessie Smith...

 and Florence Mills

Florence Mills

Florence Mills, born Florence Winfrey , known as the "Queen of Happiness," was an African American cabaret singer, dancer, and comedian known for her effervescent stage presence, delicate voice, and winsome, wide-eyed beauty.-Life and career:A daughter of former enslaved parents, Nellie and John...

. In 1919 she returned to New York City, where she worked in cabarets. Hite recorded in 1921 for Victor Records but the result was unissued; she recorded again in 1923 with Fletcher Henderson

Fletcher Henderson

James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson, Jr. was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. His was one of the most prolific black orchestras and his influence was vast...

 for the Pathé

Pathé Records

Pathé Records was a France-based international record label and producer of phonographs, active from the 1890s through the 1930s.- Early years :...

 label, in 1923-4 for the Bell label

Bell Records (1920s)

The United States based Bell Records record label started issuing records in about 1920. The label's parent company was the Standard Music Roll Company of Orange, New Jersey, which was also the parent of Arto Records...

, and in 1930 with Cliff Jackson

Cliff Jackson

Clifton Luther "Cliff" Jackson was an American jazz stride pianist.After playing in Atlantic City, Jackson moved to New York City in 1923, where he played with Lionel Howard's Musical Aces in 1924 and recorded with Bob Fuller and Elmer Snowden...

 for the Columbia

Columbia Records

Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

 label. From 1928–1932 she appeared in various revues at the Lafayette Theater in New York City. She is thought to have died in New York City in about 1935.

Blues writer Derrick Stewart-Baxter wrote in 1970 that "according to Frankie "Half Pint" Jaxon, [Mattie Hite] was a long, tall woman, who flavored her act with some extremely risqué songs". James P. Johnson

James P. Johnson

James P. Johnson was an American pianist and composer...

 considered Hite "one of the greatest cabaret singers of all time". She was known especially for her version of "St. James' Infirmary

St. James Infirmary Blues

"St. James Infirmary Blues" is based on an 18th century traditional English folk song of anonymous origin, though sometimes credited to the songwriter Joe Primrose . Louis Armstrong made it famous in his influential 1928 recording.-Authorship and history:"St...

".

Mattie Hite's complete recordings were reissued in CD

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

 format by Document Records

Document Records

Document Records is a British record label that specializes in early American blues, bluegrass, gospel, spirituals jazz, and other rural American genres , generally made between 1900 and 1945...

 on Female Blues Singers, Volume 9: H2 (1923–1930) Complete Recorded Works & Supplements (DODC-5513).

Nellie Hite

The singer Nellie Hite, who recorded two sides  in 1923 for Bell label

Bell Records (1920s)

The United States based Bell Records record label started issuing records in about 1920. The label's parent company was the Standard Music Roll Company of Orange, New Jersey, which was also the parent of Arto Records...

may be Mattie Hite, or her sister.