Estelle "Mama" Yancey (January 1, 1896 – April 19, 1986) 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 ...

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

. She was nominated four times for

Blues Music Award The Blues Music Awards, formerly known as the W. C. Handy Awards (or "The Handys"), are awards presented by the Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization set up to foster blues heritage. The awards were originally named in honor of W. C. Handy, " ...

s as Traditional Blues Female Artist.

Life and career

Yancey was born Estella Harris in

Cairo, Illinois Cairo ( , sometimes ) is the southernmost city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat of Alexander County, Illinois, Alexander County. A river city, Cairo has the lowest elevation of any location in Illinois and is the only Illinoi ...

, and grew up in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, where she sang in church choirs and learned to play the guitar. In 1925, when she was 29, she married

Jimmy Yancey James Edward Yancey (February 20, c. 1895 – September 17, 1951) was an American boogie-woogie pianist, composer, and lyricist. One reviewer described him as "one of the pioneers of this raucous, rapid-fire, eight-to-the-bar piano style". Bio ...

, who had traveled in the United States and Europe as a vaudeville dancer. She often sang with him at informal gatherings and house parties in the 1940s and performed with him at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

in 1948. Jimmy Yancey was a

boogie-woogie Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, but already developed in African-American communities since the 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually ex ...

and blues piano player, and Estelle recorded several times with him. In 1943, the Yanceys recorded for Session Records. They recorded the album ''Pure Blues'' for Atlantic Records in 1951, just a few months before Jimmy Yancey's death that same year. Estelle continued to perform and record. In her later years, she often performed with Chicago pianist

Erwin Helfer Erwin Helfer (born January 21, 1936) is an American boogie-woogie, blues, and jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots ...

, especially at the University of Chicago Folk Festival. One of the best examples of her singing is on the album ''Jimmy and Mama Yancey: Chicago Piano, Vol. 1'' (Atlantic Records, 1952), which includes "

Make Me a Pallet on the Floor "Make Me a Pallet on the Floor" (also "Make Me a Pallet on your Floor", "Make Me a Pallet", or "Pallet on the Floor") is a blues/jazz/folk song. It is considered a standard. As Jelly Roll Morton explained, "A pallet is something that – you get so ...

," "Four o'Clock Blues," "Monkey Woman Blues," "Santa Fe Blues," and " How Long Blues". Yancey's recordings with other pianists include ''Mama Yancey, Singer, Don Ewell, Pianist'' (Windin' Ball Recordings, 1952); ''Chicago—The Living Legends: South Side Blues'' (Riverside, 1961); ''Mama Yancey Sings, Art Hodes Plays Blues'' (Verve Records, 1965); ''Maybe I'll Cry'', with Erwin Helfer (Red Beans, 1983) recorded when she was 86 and 87 years old; and ''The Blues of Mama Yancey: Axel Zwingenberger and the Friends of Boogie Woogie, Vol. 4'' (Vagabond Records), recorded in 1982 and 1983 and released in 1988. Yancey died at the age of 90 on April 19, 1986, in Chicago.

Selective discography

References

External links

Mama Yancey Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yancey, Estelle 1896 births 1986 deaths American blues singers Boogie-woogie musicians Blues musicians from Illinois People from Cairo, Illinois 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women singers Singers from Chicago