At the Monterey Pop Music Festival in 1967 Janis Joplin belted out an electrifying series of songs that, when the dust settled, made her an international star and the new voice of her generation. Here was a girl who sang the blues just as convincingly as guys. However she was far from the first woman to electrify a blues audience.
Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton was just one of a venerable line of female singers who began her career behind the pulpit in a church. Her father was minister and she began singing at an early age. Winning a local talent contest she toured with the Hiot Harlem revue during the late 1940’s settling in Texas where she picked up the Texas-style blues traditions and added them to her own.
In 1952 she appeared at the Apollo Theater in Harlem where she knocked out the crowd with the Dominoes ‘ song, Have Mercy on Me Baby. Because she was so tall she earned the moniker, “Big Mama.” She then signed with Peacock Records and recorded Hound Dog, which Elvis Presley turned into a small hit three years later. But it was the “B” side, They Call me Big Mama that caught on with the listeners. It sold 2,000,000 copies for which she was paid the princely sum of $500.
She later wrote and recorded Ball and Chain, which became another big hit for her. Then Janis Joplin recorded Ball and Chain and brought Thornton back to the forefront again. Brian Jones, the Rolling Stones founder, was a staunch fan before Joplin ever heard of her.
Thornton lives a life a heavy drinking and it caught up to her in 1984 when she died of heart complications.