Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton

Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton

Willie Mae ("Big Mama") Thornton was born on December 11, 1926 and was introduced to music in the Baptist Church where her father was a minister. She and her six siblings began to sing at a very early age and she taught herself to play the drums and harmonica. By the age of 14, she had run away from home to make her career in secular music, joining Sammy Green's "Hot Harlem Revue"> She toured the South in the 1940's but left the band in Texas in 1948. Thornton immersed herself in the state’s growing club scene. She was discovered by Don Robey, a black entrepreneur who owned several clubs and record stores in the Houston area. Impressed by her massive size (6ft, 350 + lbs),formidable multi-instrument abilities, and fiery stage presence, Robey signed her to his Peacock Records label. Her big hit came with "Hound Dog," which she recorded in 1953 Big Mama Thornton always claimed to have written the song herself (a claim which may actually hold some validity), and her ferocious rendition of it held the #1 spot in the Billboard R&B charts for nine weeks. Thornton continued to tour the "chitlin' circuit" as fans began to favor newer R&B sounds over blues. For some years, Big Mama suffered in obscurity like most of her fellow bluesmen. Her name gained wider prominence and her career enjoyed a significant resurgence as her song "Ball and Chain" was covered by Janis Joplin, making it a regular number in her repertoire. From that point onward, Thornton would remain a headliner at blues festivals, colleges, and clubs throughout the country and even in Europe. Years of hard drinking and living began to take their toll, however, and by the late 1970s her health (and her trademark girth) had declined greatly. She nevertheless performed until her death in 1984 in Los Angeles, where she was found dead from natural causes in the boarding house room she had been living in.