Friday 1 May 2020

Big Maybelle born 1 May 1924


Mabel Louise Smith (May 1, 1924 – January 23, 1972), known professionally as Big Maybelle, was an American R&B singer. Her mountainous stature matching the sheer soulful power of her massive vocal talent, Big Maybelle was one of the premier R&B chanteuses of the 1950s. Her deep, gravelly voice was as singular as her recorded output for Okeh and Savoy, which ranged from 
down-in-the-alley blues to pop-slanted ballads. Her 1956 hit single "Candy" received the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999.

Born in Jackson, Tennessee, United States, Big Maybelle sang gospel as a child and by her teens had switched to rhythm and blues. In the early nineteen thirties the young Mabel won an amateur singing contest in Memphis, and decided that performing was for her. She began her professional career with Dave Clark's Memphis Band in 1936, and also toured with the all female International Sweethearts of Rhythm. She then joined Christine Chatman's Orchestra, and made her first recordings with Chatman in 1944, before recording with the Tiny Bradshaw's Orchestra from 1947 to 1950.

In the early forties Mabel was part of pianist Christine Chatman's orchestra and made her first recording with that group in 1944 for Decca Records. Soon she recorded and toured with the Tiny Bradshaw band from 1947 to 1950. Her work with him and Oran "Hot Lips" Page led to a couple of appearances on record for King Records, but she had little initial success. By the start of the new decade she was now working as a single, but bookings were sporadic and recording sessions were non-existent.

At an appearance with Jimmy Witherspoon at Detroit's Flame Show Bar in 1952, the struggling performer gained notice, and soon it paid off.She was signed by Okeh Records, whose record producer Fred Mendelsohn gave her the stage name 'Big Maybelle' because of her loud yet well-toned voice. Her first recording for Okeh, "Gabbin' Blues", was a number 3 hit on the Billboard R&B chart, and was followed up by both "Way Back Home" and "My Country Man" in 1953.

Maybelle was an in person smash in Philadelphia, first for a week at the Earle Theatre along with Willie Mabon, and then at a number of nightclubs in that city including Pep's and Emerson's cafe. 
In a testament to Maybelle's popularity during her first year for Okeh, Cash Box Magazine awards Maybelle the number three position as best female R & B performer behind Faye Adams and Dinah Washington.

In 1955 she recorded the song "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On", produced by up-and-coming producer Quincy Jones, a full two years before rockabilly then rock and roll singer Jerry Lee Lewis's version. Lewis credited Smith's version as being the inspiration to make his version much louder, raunchy and raucous, with a driving beat and a spoken section with a come-on that was considered very risqué for the time.


                             

More hits followed throughout the 1950s, particularly after signing with Savoy Records later in 1955, including "Candy" (1956), one of her biggest sellers. During this time, she also appeared on stage at the Apollo Theatre in New York City in 1957, and at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival she sang "All Night Long/I Ain't Mad at
You", as seen in Bert Stern's film of the festival Jazz on a Summer's Day, in which Mahalia Jackson and Dinah Washington also performed.

Maybelle persevered throughout the '60s, recording for Brunswick, Scepter (her "Yesterday's Kisses" found her coping admirably with the uptown soul sound), Chess, Rojac and other labels. Her last hit single was in 1967 with a cover of "96 Tears" by Question Mark & the Mysterians.  Maybelle also continued to perform in person into the early sixties, when the battle with drug addiction and health problems took their toll on her. From the mid sixties on she performed on an irregular basis, settling down in Cleveland. But the good years were long gone when she slipped into a diabetic coma and passed away in a Cleveland hospital in 1972.

Her final album, Last of Big Maybelle, was released posthumously in 1973. 

The album The Okeh Sessions on the Epic label, won the 1983 W. C. Handy Award, for "Vintage or Reissue Album of the Year (U.S.)."

Mabel Louise Smith was fortunate to change up and become a top selling recording artist in the midst of the rock 'n' roll era which assured her a place in the hearts and minds of so many that were there during those musically revolutionary times. Rather than becoming one of the many talented but neglected performers who shaped the music of those days and were then discarded from the writing of the history, Big Maybelle remained a performer who bridged the gap between the R & B days, to the rock music future.  In 2011, she was inducted to the Blues Hall of Fame.

(Edited mainly from Wikipedia and a 2000 Earthlink article by J C Marion)

10 comments:

boppinbob said...

For “Big Maybelle - The Savoy Years - The Album Collection
– Original ‘50s Album Releases Plus Bonus Tracks” ” go here:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/wziyyBnz

Disc 1

LIVE RADIO SESSION
1. RING DANG DILLY
2. CANDY
BIG MAYBELLE SINGS
3. ALL OF ME
4. STAY AS SWEET AS YOU ARE
5. BABY, WON'T YOU PLEASE COME HOME
6. SAY IT ISN'T SO
7. ROCK HOUSE
8. IF I COULD BE WITH YOU
9. JIM
10. IT'S A SIN TO TELL A LIE
11. I COULD MAKE YOU CARE
12. I DON'T WANT TO CRY
BLUES, CANDY AND BIG MAYBELLE
13. PITIFUL
14. THERE, I'VE SAID IT AGAIN
15. CANDY
16. SO LONG
17. RAMBLIN' BLUES
18. BLUES EARLY, EARLY (Parts 1 & 2)
19. RING DANG DILLY
20. THAT'S A PRETTY GOOD LOVE
21. MEAN TO ME
22. TELL ME WHO
THE CHRISTMAS 45
23. SILENT NIGHT
24. WHITE CHRISTMAS

Disc 2

THE BLUES - MAMIE WEBSTER SINGS W.C. HANDY
1. BEALE STREET BLUES
2. CARELESS LOVE
3. ST LOUIS BLUES
4. MEMPHIS BLUES
5. JOE TURNER BLUES
6. YELLOW DOG BLUES
7. THE BASEMENT BLUES
8. THE HESITATING BLUES
9. OLE MISS BLUES
10. FRIENDLESS BLUES
11. WAY DOWN SOUTH WHERE THE BLUES BEGAN
12. HARLEM BLUES
FROM THE MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK 'JAZZ ON A SUMMER'S DAY'
13. LET'S ROLL IT (I Ain't Mad At You)
14. CHERRY
15. ONE HOUR
16. BABY PLEASE DON'T GO
17. THE BLUES
THE LAST SAVOY SESSIONS
18. GOING HOME BABY
19. A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND
20. I AIN'T GOT NOBODY
21. I UNDERSTAND
22. I GOT IT BAD AND THAT AIN'T GOOD
23. SOME OF THESE DAYS
24. UNTIL THE REAL THING COMES ALONG

Little is really known of Mabel Louise Smith aka Big Maybelle, as with so many pioneers of R&B she was never interviewed in her lifetime and passed away in 1972 just as historians of popular culture were finally getting around to the architects of R&B. Here Jasmine have tried a new approach to her recorded work beginning with two rare live radio broadcasts for Alan Freed along with her original LPs for the Savoy and Cub labels presented together for the first time. Also included is her only Christmas 45 along with all of her legendary performance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958.

There is no doubt that Big Maybelle was a big influence over the upcoming soul generation and Aretha Franklin recorded incredible versions of 'Ramblin' Blues' and 'Pitiful' and the originals by Big Maybelle are included on this superb set. (Jasmine notes)

A big thank you to Mijas @ El Rincon De Louis blog for original post.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is a selected discography from various up-loaders who are credited below.

*Chris @ yousayblues blog
** bluesever @ the blues that jazz
*** Jake @ Jukebox City (reposted by From The Vaults)

1955 - The Complete Okeh Sessions (1952-55) **

https://yadi.sk/d/P7TxKcrS8rME4

1957 - Blues, Candy & Big Maybelle**

https://yadi.sk/d/P7TxKcrS8rME4

1967 – Got A Brand New Bag*

https://1fichier.com/?k6ezgg2bwt

1996 - The Last of Big Maybelle**

http://www.mediafire.com/file/gluajmopb3l1jna/BMl-TLoBM96.zip/file

2001 - Savoy Blues Legends - Candy! (2CD)*

https://1fichier.com/?h9p1fhfpwf

2012 - The Rojac Years*

https://1fichier.com/?331pr3ki7lphutmiguk8

The Chronological Big Maybelle 1944-1953**

http://www.mediafire.com/file/l1bvdsah4wqtgv4/BMl-TCBM04.zip/file

CHRONOLOGICAL CLASSICS (1944-68) (130 tracks @128)*

https://1fichier.com/?mt110qauui

THE ROOTS OF ROCK 'N' ROLL Vol.13-Big Maybelle*

https://1fichier.com/?d2a19dhsl8t1m4ia6hzf


Half Heaven, Half Heartache ***
The Brunswick Recordings; Two complete albums on one CD plus bonus cuts. "The Gospel Soul Of Big Maybelle" and "What More Can A Woman Do?".

https://www.upload.ee/files/11603619/BgBelle_-_HlfHvenHlfHrtache.rar.html

Bob Mac said...

Big thanks, found 2 I didn't have.

Roffe said...

Hi, Thanks for these amazing dl's. But it's the same links for these albums:
"1955 - The Complete Okeh Sessions (1952-55) ** and 1957 - Blues, Candy & Big Maybelle**"" I get Blues, Candy... and not The Complete

Thanks for a great blog!!
//Roffe

Roffe said...

Hello Bob,
Thanks a lot. That's what I call a quick response!!
Regards, Roffe. And thanks again.

But when I downloaded the new link it was "Blues Candy.. again, not the "Complete..".
Maybe I didn't write the correct English.

//Roffe

boppinbob said...

hello Roffe, Third time lucky.

https://yadi.sk/d/CsKGDBXx8rPjK

This self isolation is playing havoc with my concentration!!:-)
Bob.

Roffe said...

Hello Bob,
No problems, I know the feeling. Thank you.
//Roffe

egroj.jazz said...

Many Thanks!

Guitarradeplastico,scraping oddities said...

Many Thanks

subharmonia.blogspot.com said...

Sorry the link is dead! Reup please1

boppinbob said...

Hiya Sub, I presume you mean the first one Savoy Album Collection, then here 'tiz....

https://krakenfiles.com/view/080z7AC8gU/file.html