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Notable people · Entertainment · Music · African American History · Women

Mamie Smith

Cincinnati-born vaudeville singer whose 1920 Okeh recordings, above all 'Crazy Blues', were the first vocal blues records by an African American artist and opened the market for 'race records'.

Born May 26, 1891, Cincinnati (14 Perry Street, now 308 Perry Street, downtown)
Died 1946, Manhattan, New York City

Mamie Smith
Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

At a glance

Born
May 26, 1891, Cincinnati (14 Perry Street, now 308 Perry Street, downtown) (Hamilton County) source
Died
1946, Manhattan, New York City source
Buried
Frederick Douglass Memorial Park, Staten Island (headstone erected 2013) source
Also known as
Mamie Robinson, Queen of the Blues
Known as
Entertainment, Music, African American History, Women

Life story

Mamie Smith was born Mamie Robinson in Cincinnati in 1891, at 14 Perry Street downtown, and sang in the city until at least the age of 15; as a child of about ten she was already touring with a dance act. She danced with Salem Tutt Whitney's Smart Set and from 1913 sang in Harlem clubs, where songwriter Perry Bradford made her the star of his show Made in Harlem. In 1920 she became the first African American artist to make vocal blues recordings, beginning with an Okeh session on February 14; on August 10 she recorded Bradford's 'Crazy Blues', a hit that showed record companies there was a Black record-buying public and set off the era of classic women's blues. She toured the US and Europe with her Jazz Hounds, appeared in films into the early 1940s, and died in New York in 1946, reportedly penniless. Cincinnati's claim was confirmed in 2018, when writer John Jeremiah Sullivan found her birth records there.

Ohio ties

  • Cincinnati (14 Perry Street, now 308 Perry Street) (1891-c. 1906)
    birthplace; she sang the blues in Cincinnati until she was at least 15 Hamilton County · source
  • Cincinnati (Mercantile Library) (2018)
    the Mercantile Library backed John Jeremiah Sullivan's research that located her birth records and publicised the find Hamilton County · source

Timeline

  1. 1891 Born Mamie Robinson in Cincinnati on May 26. source
  2. c. 1901 At about ten she found work touring with the Four Dancing Mitchells, a white act; as a teenager she danced in Salem Tutt Whitney's Smart Set. source
  3. 1913 Left the Smart Set to sing in Harlem clubs and married the singer William 'Smitty' Smith. source
  4. 1918 Starred in Perry Bradford's musical Made in Harlem; Bradford, who had hired her in 1917, became her manager. source
  5. 1920 On February 14 recorded 'That Thing Called Love' and 'You Can't Keep a Good Man Down' for Okeh in New York, credited as 'Mamie Smith, contralto', with white studio musicians. source
  6. 1920 On August 10 recorded Bradford's 'Crazy Blues' (Okeh 4169), this time with Black musicians; it sold 75,000 copies in its first month, mostly in Harlem. source
  7. 1923 Performed with members of her band on radio station KGW in Portland, Oregon, in early May. source
  8. 1929 Appeared in the early sound film Jailhouse Blues; she retired from recording and performing in 1931. source
  9. 1939 Returned to the screen in Paradise in Harlem, singing 'Crazy Blues' reworked as 'Harlem Blues'. source
  10. 1946 Died in Manhattan, reportedly penniless, and was buried in an unmarked grave. source
  11. 1994 'Crazy Blues' (Okeh, 1920) was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. source
  12. 2005 The Library of Congress added 'Crazy Blues' to the National Recording Registry. source
  13. 2013 A four-foot granite headstone with her image, paid for by a crowdfunding campaign, was erected at Frederick Douglass Memorial Park on Staten Island on September 20. source
  14. 2018 Writer John Jeremiah Sullivan, working with Cincinnati's Mercantile Library, found her birth records showing she was born in 1891 at 14 Perry Street, Cincinnati. source

Stories

A Cincinnati girl after all

For decades reference books gave Mamie Smith's birth year as 1883, and her early life was a blank. In 2018 the writer John Jeremiah Sullivan, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, took on the question with the backing of Cincinnati's Mercantile Library. He found her real birth certificates, which name her parents and her birth address: 14 Perry Street in downtown Cincinnati, now numbered 308 Perry Street, across from the Duke Energy Convention Center. The records put her birth in 1891, eight years later than the old date, and showed she had sung the blues in Cincinnati until she was at least 15. Sullivan called her 'really a Cincinnati girl through and through.'

Source

The session meant for Sophie Tucker

Perry Bradford, a Black songwriter who had hired Mamie Smith in 1917 and starred her in his show Made in Harlem, spent months pitching his songs to the record companies. Okeh's recording director, Fred Hager, liked them, but his first thought was to have the white star Sophie Tucker record them. Tucker was under contract to another label, so on February 14, 1920, Smith got the session instead, backed by Okeh's white studio band and credited as 'Mamie Smith, contralto'. That August she returned to record 'Harlem Blues', retitled 'Crazy Blues', with Black musicians. It sold 75,000 copies in its first month, mostly in Harlem; the often-repeated figure of a million copies cannot be verified.

Source

Three tries at a headstone

Mamie Smith died in Manhattan in 1946, reportedly penniless, and was buried without a marker. According to the Jas Obrecht music archive, musicians from Iserlohn, West Germany, raised money at a hot-jazz benefit in 1963 for a stone reading 'Mamie Smith (1883-1946): First Lady of the Blues', and with the help of singer Victoria Spivey and publisher Len Kunstadt she was re-interred at Frederick Douglass Memorial Park on Staten Island, with a gala on January 27, 1964. Yet a 2012 campaign found her grave still without a headstone. Blues journalist Michael Cala and editor Anne Fanciullo Cala raised more than $8,000 through Indiegogo, with help from MusiCares, and a four-foot etched granite stone bearing her image was set on September 20, 2013. The leftover money went to the cemetery for grounds care.

Source

Sites to know

Homes, graves, markers, museums and monuments.

  • Mamie Smith birthplace site, 14 Perry Street (now 308 Perry Street), across from the Duke Energy Convention Center (unknown)
    Cincinnati Hamilton County · source
  • Mamie Smith grave, Frederick Douglass Memorial Park (cemetery coordinates)
    Staten Island, New York source

Ohio places

Where Mamie Smith was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.

Myths and corrections

Things often said about Mamie Smith, and what the record shows.

Often said Mamie Smith was born in 1883.

The record Her birth certificates, found in Cincinnati in 2018 by John Jeremiah Sullivan, show she was born in 1891 at 14 Perry Street. Researchers had previously believed 1883, a date some references still give. source

Often said Mamie Smith made the first record by a Black artist, or the first blues record.

The record African Americans such as George W. Johnson had recorded since the 1890s, mostly music aimed at white audiences. Smith's 1920 Okeh sides were the first vocal blues recordings by an African American artist, and 'Crazy Blues' was the first big blues hit. source

Often said 'Crazy Blues' sold a million copies in its first year.

The record The documented figure is 75,000 copies in the first month, mostly in Harlem. The million-copy claim is widely repeated but has not been verified. source

Documents

Primary records: patents, letters, court and government files, nominations and old county histories, each at the archive that holds it.

Pictures

Free to use with the credit shown. Select a picture for the original and its license.

  • "'U' Need Some Loving Blues" by Mamie Smith and Her Jazz Hounds, B-side of "Jazzbo Ball"
    "'U' Need Some Loving Blues" by Mamie Smith and Her Jazz Hounds, B-side of "Jazzbo Ball"
    Public domain
  • Sheet music cover.
    Sheet music cover.
    Public domain
  • Advertisement with American singer Mamie Smith and listing of songs available from Okeh Records, on page 3 of the Decemb
    Advertisement with American singer Mamie Smith and listing of songs available from Okeh Records, on page 3 of ...
    Public domain
  • Ad from the Montgomery Times (Montgomery, Alabama, USA), December 5, 1921 listing recordings by Mamie Smith and Her Jazz
    Ad from the Montgomery Times (Montgomery, Alabama, USA), December 5, 1921 listing recordings by Mamie Smith an...
    Public domain
  • OKeh's Advertising at Talking Machine World
    OKeh's Advertising at Talking Machine World
    Public domain
  • Mamie Smith Gravestone at Frederick Douglass Memorial Park
    Mamie Smith Gravestone at Frederick Douglass Memorial Park
    Frederick Douglass Memorial Park, Inc. / CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Mamie Smith in 1921
    Mamie Smith in 1921
    Gillian.gillian / CC BY-SA 4.0

Sources

Confidence. Medium: the main facts were confirmed, but some details (often an address or ZIP code) were not.

Every link goes to the original source. Profile researched 2026-10-15.

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