Sara Martin
Encyclopedia
Sara Martin was an American
blues
singer, in her time one of the most popular of the classic blues singers
. She was billed as "The Famous Moanin' Mama" and "The Colored Sophie Tucker". Martin made many recordings, including a few under the names Margaret Johnson and Sally Roberts.
, Kentucky
, United States
and was singing on the African-American vaudeville
circuit by 1915. She began a very successful recording career when she was signed by the Okeh
label in 1922. Through the 1920s she toured and recorded with such performers as Fats Waller
, Clarence Williams, King Oliver, and Sylvester Weaver
. She was among the most-recorded of the classic blues singers.
She was possibly the first to record the famous blues song "T'aint Nobody's Bizness If I Do" with Waller on piano in 1922.
On stage she was noted for an especially dramatic performing style and for her lavish costumes, which she changed two or three times per show. In his book, Ma Rainey and the Classic Blues Singers, Derrick Stewart-Baxter says of her:
According to blues historian Daphne Duval Harrison, "Martin tended to use more swinging, danceable rhythms than some of her peers ... when she sang a traditional blues her voice and styling had richer, deeper qualities that matched the content in sensitivity and mood: "Mean Tight Mama" and "Death Sting Me" approach an apex of blues singing".
Martin's stage work in the late 1920s took her to New York, Detroit, and Pittsburgh, and to Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. She made one film appearance, in Hello Bill with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in 1929. Her last major stage appearance was in Darktown Scandals Review in 1930. She performed with Thomas A. Dorsey
as a gospel
singer in 1932, after which she worked outside the music industry, running a nursing home
in Louisville. Sara Martin died in Louisville of a stroke
in May 1955.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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 her time one of the most popular of the classic blues singers
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...
. She was billed as "The Famous Moanin' Mama" and "The Colored Sophie Tucker". Martin made many recordings, including a few under the names Margaret Johnson and Sally Roberts.
Biography
Martin was born in LouisvilleLouisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and was singing on the African-American vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
circuit by 1915. She began a very successful recording career when she was signed by the Okeh
Okeh Records
Okeh Records began as an independent record label based in the United States of America in 1918. From 1926 on, it was a subsidiary of Columbia Records.-History:...
label in 1922. Through the 1920s she toured and recorded with such performers as Fats Waller
Fats Waller
Fats Waller , born Thomas Wright Waller, was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer...
, Clarence Williams, King Oliver, and Sylvester Weaver
Sylvester Weaver
Sylvester Weaver was an American blues guitar player and pioneer of country blues.-Biography:On October 23, 1923, he recorded in New York City with the blues singer Sara Martin "Longing for Daddy Blues" / "I've Got to Go and Leave My Daddy Behind" and two weeks later as a soloist "Guitar Blues" /...
. She was among the most-recorded of the classic blues singers.
She was possibly the first to record the famous blues song "T'aint Nobody's Bizness If I Do" with Waller on piano in 1922.
On stage she was noted for an especially dramatic performing style and for her lavish costumes, which she changed two or three times per show. In his book, Ma Rainey and the Classic Blues Singers, Derrick Stewart-Baxter says of her:
...she was never a really great blues singer. The records she made varied considerably, on many she sounded stilted and very unrelaxed. ... Occasionally, she did hit a groove and when this happened, she could be quite pleasing, as on her very original "Brother Ben". ... The sides she did with King Oliver can be recommended, particularly "Death Sting Me Blues".
According to blues historian Daphne Duval Harrison, "Martin tended to use more swinging, danceable rhythms than some of her peers ... when she sang a traditional blues her voice and styling had richer, deeper qualities that matched the content in sensitivity and mood: "Mean Tight Mama" and "Death Sting Me" approach an apex of blues singing".
Martin's stage work in the late 1920s took her to New York, Detroit, and Pittsburgh, and to Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. She made one film appearance, in Hello Bill with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in 1929. Her last major stage appearance was in Darktown Scandals Review in 1930. She performed with Thomas A. Dorsey
Thomas A. Dorsey
Thomas Andrew Dorsey was known as "the father of black gospel music" and was at one time so closely associated with the field that songs written in the new style were sometimes known as "dorseys." Earlier in his life he was a leading blues pianist known as Georgia Tom.As formulated by Dorsey,...
as a gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
singer in 1932, after which she worked outside the music industry, running a nursing home
Nursing home
A nursing home, convalescent home, skilled nursing unit , care home, rest home, or old people's home provides a type of care of residents: it is a place of residence for people who require constant nursing care and have significant deficiencies with activities of daily living...
in Louisville. Sara Martin died in Louisville of a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
in May 1955.