Viola McCoy (c. 1900 – c. 1956) was an American blues singer who performed in the

classic female blues Classic female blues was an early form of blues music, popular in the 1920s. An amalgam of traditional folk blues and urban theater music, the style is also known as vaudeville blues. Classic blues were performed by female singers accompanied by ...

style during a career that lasted from the early 1920s to the late 1930s.

Life and career

Her birth name may have been Amanda Brown (a name under which she sometimes recorded). She is believed to have been born in

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Mis ...

,Rye 1995. although a press release of 1924 claimed she was from

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the County seat, seat of Shelby County, Tennessee, Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 Uni ...

. She performed with the sideshow annex band attached to Sparks Circus in 1916, performing the comic "Scaddle-de-Mooch," written by Cecil Mack in 1915, and "Daddy," a blues number. "Daddy" may be an early version of "Oh, Daddy," recorded by

Ethel Waters Ethel Waters (October 31, 1896 – September 1, 1977) was an American singer and actress. Waters frequently performed jazz, swing, and pop music on the Broadway stage and in concerts. She began her career in the 1920s singing blues. Her no ...

in 1921 and

Bessie Smith Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the " Empress of the Blues", she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. Inducted into the Rock an ...

in 1922. In 1917, McCoy toured with the Georgia Smart Set. In the early 1920s, she moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, where she worked in cabarets and appeared in revues at the Lincoln and Lafayette Theaters. She toured the

Theater Owners Bookers Association Theatre Owners Booking Association, or T.O.B.A., was the vaudeville circuit for African American performers in the 1920s. The theaters mostly had white owners, though there were exceptions, including the recently restored Morton Theater in Athens, G ...

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic compositio ...

circuit and made numerous recordings from 1923 to 1929 for various labels, including

Gennett Gennett (pronounced "jennett") was an American record company and label in Richmond, Indiana, United States, which flourished in the 1920s. Gennett produced some of the earliest recordings by Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Bix Beiderbecke, and Ho ...

Vocalion Vocalion Records is an American record company and label. History The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pianos and organs, as Aeolian-Vocalion; the company also sold phonographs under the Vocalion name. "Aeolian" was ...

, and

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. On her recordings from 1923 her most frequent accompanist was pianist

Porter Grainger Porter Grainger ( Granger; October 22, 1891 − October 30, 1948) was an American pianist, songwriter, playwright, and music publisher. Biography When Grainger was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky, the Granger family name did not include an "i". ...

; later accompanists included

Fletcher Henderson James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson (December 18, 1897 – December 29, 1952) was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. He was one of the most prolific black mus ...

, Louis Hooper, and

Bob Fuller Bob Fuller (December 31, 1898 – unknown) was an American blues and jazz saxophonist and clarinetist, best known for his recordings accompanying female singers of the 1920s. Born and raised in New York City, Fuller toured the United States wi ...

, among others. A few of her recordings are enlivened by

kazoo The kazoo is an American musical instrument that adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of '' mirliton'' (which itself is a membranophone), one of a class of instruments which modif ...

solos performed by McCoy. In 1927, she briefly owned and performed in Jack's Cabaret in New York City. By 1930 she owned and operated a nightclub in

Saratoga Springs, New York Saratoga Springs is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 28,491 at the 2020 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area, which has made Saratoga a popular resort destination for over ...

.Harris 1994, p. 357. In 1938, she settled in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York Ci ...

, and was mostly inactive in music during the remainder of her life. McCoy is thought to have died in

, about 1956. Author Derrick Stewart-Baxter wrote of McCoy, "She belongs to the great vaudeville tradition, but in all she does there is a strong jazz strain ... Possessing a lovely contralto voice and fine diction, she was able to project herself through even the worst recording ... It would be true to say that in the three years she was recording most prolifically she hardly ever made a bad record".

Aliases

McCoy recorded songs under various pseudonyms, including Amanda Brown (Columbia, Perfect and Pathe labels), Daisy Cliff (Guardsman label), Clara White or Bessie Williams (Oriole and Domino labels), Gladys White (Variety label), Fannie Johnson (Cameo) and Susan Williams (Lincoln label).

Notes

References

* Harris, Sheldon (1994). ''Blues Who's Who'' (Revised Ed.). New York: Da Capo Press. . *Rye, Howard (1995). ''Viola McCoy: Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order. Volume 1: 1923''. Document Records DOCD-5416 (CD booklet). *Stewart-Baxter, Derrick (1970). ''Ma Rainey and the Classic Blues Singers''. London: Studio Vista. . {{DEFAULTSORT:McCoy, Viola Classic female blues singers American blues singers Vaudeville performers Vocalion Records artists Gennett Records artists Ajax Records artists 1900s births 1950s deaths Year of birth uncertain Year of death uncertain 20th-century African-American women singers