Mamie Smith has joined Rosemary Clooney and James Brown as one of the great performers to have their own Artworks’ Cincinnati Legends mural. The Smith mural, designed by Julia Bottoms, was dedicated at 309 W. 13th St. in the Pendleton District on Wednesday (Aug. 22).
Smith, who is believed to have been born in Cincinnati in 1883 although no birth record has been found, Wikipedia notes. According to the site, “On February 14, 1920, Smith recorded ‘That Thing Called Love’ and “‘You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down’ for Okeh Records in New York City, after African-American songwriter and bandleader Perry Bradford persuaded Fred Hagar. This was the first recording by a black blues singer; the musicians, however, were all white. Hagar had received threats from Northern and Southern pressure groups saying they would boycott the company if he recorded a black singer. Despite these threats the record was a commercial success and opened the door for more black musicians to record.“
Again according to the site, “Smith’s biggest hit was recorded later, on August 10, 1920 when she recorded a set of songs written by Bradford, including ‘Crazy Blues’ and “It’s Right Here for You (If You Don’t Get It, ‘Tain’t No Fault of Mine),’ again for Okeh. A million copies of the record were sold in less than a year. Many copies of the record were bought by African Americans, and there was a sharp increase in the popularity of race records. Because of its historical significance, ‘Crazy Blues’ was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1994 and was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2005.
For more information on ArtWorks murals, visit artworkscincinnati.org.
This article appears in Aug 22-29, 2018.
