Ann Cook (April 1886 – September 29, 1962) was an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

and

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

singer. Born and raised in rural Louisiana in an area named Fazendeville in St. Bernard Parish, Cook moved to

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

as a teenager. She worked as a prostitute and singer in the Storyville neighborhood, living in an area known as "The Battlefield". She worked out of

Willie Piazza Willie Vincent Piazza (c. 1865 – November 2, 1932) was a sex worker and brothel proprietor in the Storyville area of New Orleans, United States, during that red light district's period of legal operation. From 1898 until the district's closure ...

's brothel during the later years of Storyville's existence, and after the end of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and Storyville's dismantling, Cook moved to

Rampart Street Rampart Street () is a historic avenue located in New Orleans, Louisiana. The section of Rampart Street downriver from Canal Street is designated as North Rampart Street, which forms the inland or northern border of the French Quarter (Vieux ...

. During this time, she worked on two of her surviving recordings, "Mama Cookie Blues" and "He’s the Sweetest Black Man in Town", which were originally published by Victor Records in 1927. At the time, her voice was considered so well-liked that it could "stop the traffic on Rampart Street". In the late 1940s and 1950s, Cook left the blues and began to take up gospel music, working with

Wooden Joe Nicholas Wooden Joe Nicholas (September 23, 1883 – November 17, 1957) was an American jazz trumpeter and cornetist, active on the early New Orleans jazz scene. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Nicholas began playing professionall ...

and his band on the single ''The Lord Will Make a Way'', released in 1949. Blues historian

Bill Russell William Felton Russell (February 12, 1934 – July 31, 2022) was an American professional basketball player who played Center (basketball), center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956 to 1969. He was t ...

attempted to have Cook record more blues music during this time due to a revival of

New Orleans blues New Orleans blues is a subgenre of blues that developed in and around the city of New Orleans, influenced by jazz and Caribbean music. It is dominated by piano and saxophone, but also produced guitar bluesmen. Characteristics As a style, New ...

. She refused to return to blues music and continued with gospel music until her death in 1962.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Ann Year of birth unknown 1962 deaths