Big Mama Thornton

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About Big Mama Thornton

Big Mama Thornton was a vibrant rhythm & blues shouter whose trademark growl was a major influence on generations of R&B and rock artists. While she never crossed over to the pop charts, two of her signature songs would become well known to rock fans -- she recorded "Hound Dog" four years before Elvis Presley had a hit with the tune, and she wrote "Ball & Chain," which Janis Joplin performed on Big Brother & the Holding Company's 1968 album Cheap Thrills. Thornton recorded well into the '70s and performed into the '80s, delivering her impassioned version of the blues -- gritty but swinging, and perfect for a rowdy Saturday night -- into the last years of her life. Her superb early singles are collected on the 1992 set Hound Dog: The Peacock Recordings, and 1966's In Europe is drawn from recordings of the American Folk Blues Festival tour of 1965.

HOMETOWN
Ariton, AL, United States
BORN
December 11, 1926
GENRE
Blues
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