Big Mama Thornton - Hound Dog

Thank you, my friend SGT (Join to see) for honoring singer and songwriter, Willie Mae :Big Mama" Thornton [born as Frank Carlton Serafino Ferrana] who wrote 'Ball And Chain' which was covered by Janis Joplin. Thank you for posting the official music video of Big Mama Thornton, performing her song "Hound Dog" which would later be made famous when Elvis Presley covered it.
Rest in peace Willie Mae :Big Mama" Thornton!

Big Mama Thornton - Interview by: Chris Strachwitz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJjJ91rh2qU

Images:
1. Willie Mae 'Big Mama' Thornton
2. 1952 Willie Mae Thornton Performs in New York City
3. Big Mama Thornton and Aretha Franklin
4. Big Mama Thornton the original hound dog album.

Biographies:
1. blackpast.org/african-american-history/thornton-willie-mae-big-mama-1926-1984/
2. allmusic.com/artist/big-mama-thornton-mn [login to see] /biography
3. encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1573

1. Background from blackpast.org/african-american-history/thornton-willie-mae-big-mama-1926-1984/
WILLIE MAE “BIG MAMA” THORNTON (1926-1984)
Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton was a blues singer and songwriter whose recordings of “Hound Dog” and “Ball ‘n’ Chain” later were transformed into huge hits by Elvis Presley and Janis Joplin.

Willie Mae Thornton was born on December 11, 1926 outside of Montgomery in rural Ariton, Alabama. Her father was a Baptist minister and her mother was a church singer in his congregation. Thornton’s mother died when the singer was 14, and she left home to pursue a career as an entertainer. She joined the Georgia-based Hot Harlem Revue as an accomplished singer, drummer, and harmonica player and spent seven years as a regular performer throughout the South. Following her years as a traveling blues singer, Thornton moved to Houston in 1948 to begin her recording career.

In Houston, Thornton joined Don Robey’s Peacock Records in 1951, often working closely with fellow label artist Johnny Otis. Her professional relationship with Otis and Robey proved fruitful for Thornton, who, along with “Little” Esther Phillips and Mel Walker, toured with Otis. Their tour traveled throughout the eastern and southern United States, including benchmark shows at Houston’s Bronze Peacock and Harlem’s Cotton Club.

One of Thornton’s earliest and most popular recorded tracks was “Hound Dog,” initially released by Peacock in 1953. Thornton’s version of “Hound Dog” topped the R&B charts for seven weeks and sold over two million copies nationwide. Though the song brought acclaim to Thornton, it only yielded her about $500. The song became even more popular as Elvis Presley’s first hit record in 1956.

As the popularity of Thornton’s traditional blues style waned in favor of the newer rock sound, she moved to San Francisco in the late 1950s and performed for several years without a label or promoter until the resurgent interest in traditional blues of the early 1960s again brought attention to her work. In the 1960s, Thornton recorded albums for the Arhoolie and Mercury labels, including collaborative albums such as Big Mama Thornton with the Chicago Blues Band (1967) with Muddy Waters and Ball ‘n’ Chain (1968) with Sam Lightnin’ Hopkins. Additionally, she was regularly featured at the Monterey Jazz Festival in San Francisco and American Folk Blues Festival throughout Europe.

Though Thornton’s popularity continued to surge throughout the 1970s, her health deteriorated due to years of heavy drinking. As her unreleased material was gathered together for albums such as Saved (1973), Sassy Mama (1975) and Jail (1975), Thornton struggled to make performance and recording dates, including the 1979 San Francisco Blues Festival, where she needed assistance to mount the stage.

As a final act of dedication to the blues, Thornton recovered from an automobile accident in the early 1980s to perform at the 1983 Newport Jazz Festival with artists such as Muddy Waters, B.B. King and Lloyd Glenn, producing a final album The Blues…A Real Summit Meeting. Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton died in Los Angeles on July 25, 1984 at the age of 57 from complications resulting from a heart attack."

2. Background from allmusic.com/artist/big-mama-thornton-mn [login to see] /biography
"Artist Biography by Bill Dahl
Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton only notched one national hit in her lifetime, but it was a true monster. "Hound Dog" held down the top slot on Billboard's R&B charts for seven long weeks in 1953. Alas, Elvis Presley's rocking 1956 cover was even bigger, effectively obscuring Thornton's chief claim to immortality.

That's a damned shame, because Thornton's menacing growl was indeed something special. The hefty belter first opened her pipes in church but soon embraced the blues. She toured with Sammy Green's Hot Harlem Revue during the 1940s. Thornton was ensconced on the Houston circuit when Peacock Records boss Don Robey signed her in 1951. She debuted on Peacock with "Partnership Blues" that year, backed by trumpeter Joe Scott's band.

But it was her third Peacock date with Johnny Otis' band that proved the winner. With Pete Lewis laying down some truly nasty guitar behind her, Big Mama shouted "Hound Dog," a tune whose authorship remains a bone of contention to this day (both Otis and the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller claim responsibility), and soon hit the road a star.

But it was an isolated incident. Though Thornton cut some fine Peacock follow-ups -- "I Smell a Rat," "Stop Hoppin' on Me," "The Fish," "Just like a Dog" -- through 1957, she never again reached the hit parade. Even Elvis was apparently unaware of her; he was handed "Hound Dog" by Freddie Bell, a Vegas lounge rocker. Early-'60s 45s for Irma, Bay-Tone, Kent, and Sotoplay did little to revive her sagging fortunes, but a series of dates for Arhoolie that included her first vinyl rendition of "Ball and Chain" in 1968 and two albums for Mercury in 1969-1970 put her back in circulation (Janis Joplin's overwrought but well-intentioned cover of "Ball and Chain" didn't hurt either). Along with her imposing vocals, Thornton began to emphasize her harmonica skills during the 1960s.

Thornton was a tough cookie. She dressed like a man and took no guff from anyone, even as the pounds fell off her once-ample frame and she became downright scrawny during the last years of her life. Medical personnel found her lifeless body in an L.A. rooming house in 1984."

Background from encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1573
"Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton written by Tina Spencer Dreisbach, Hiram College
Willie Mae Thornton (1926-1984) was an influential African American blues singer and songwriter whose career extended from the 1940s to the early 1980s. She was called "Big Mama" for both her size and her robust, powerful voice. She is best known for her gutsy 1952 rhythm and blues recording of "Hound Dog," later covered by Elvis Presley, and for her original song "Ball and Chain," made famous by Janis Joplin. Thornton's compositions include more than 20 blues songs.
Willie Mae Thornton was born December 11, 1926, to Thomas H. Thornton and Edna M. Richardson Thornton. She was one of at least four siblings. Several sources indicate she was born on the rural outskirts of Montgomery, but a few indicate the unincorporated community of Ariton in Dale County. By the time she was three, the family had settled in Lauderdale County. Her father was a minister and her mother sang in the church choir, and Willie Mae grew up singing in church and learned drums and harmonica, perhaps from a brother who was an outstanding player, later known as "Harp" Thornton.
Willie Mae's mother died when she was 14, and she took a job cleaning a local saloon and soon was substituting for the regular singer. Accounts of how she attracted the notice of Atlanta music promoter Sammy Green vary. In one version, he heard her win first prize in a local amateur contest; in another she helped his artists move a piano up the club stairs. In any event, in 1941 Thornton joined Green's Georgia-based show, The Hot Harlem Revue, and remained with him for seven years. Billed as the "New Bessie Smith," she sang and danced throughout the southeastern United States. She later acknowledged the influence of artists heard during this time, including Smith, Ma Rainey, Junior Parker, and Memphis Minnie.

In 1948, Thornton left the Revue and settled in Houston, where she would contribute to the development of the "Texas blues" style. In this period, she worked with two producers: bandleader Johnny Otis and, most significant, a flamboyant black entrepreneur named Don Robey. Robey reportedly heard Thornton in Houston's El Dorado Ballroom and was impressed with her ability to play multiple instruments, rare for a female singer. He signed her to a five-year contract with his Peacock Records Label. (This independent studio, later called Duke-Peacock, was known for gritty rhythm and blues and gospel and was an important influence on soul music and rock and featured artists such as Marie Adams, Johnny Ace, and a young Little Richard.)
Thornton's open lesbianism caused some tension with Robey, but he produced her first recordings and set up a regular performance schedule for her in his Houston club, The Bronze Peacock, and on the southern performance trail known as the "Chitlin' Circuit." This string of clubs and venues covered the eastern and southern United States and were considered safe for African American musicians to play in. They ranged from the Cotton Club in New York's Harlem neighborhood to local juke joints in Mississippi. Thornton spent much of the early 1950s on the road or recording for Robey or Johnny Otis when in Houston or Los Angeles.

In 1952, Thornton travelled to New York City with the Otis Show to play the famed Apollo Theatre, where she initially served as the opening act for R&B artists "Little" Esther Phillips and Mel Walker but soon was promoted to headliner. She first earned the nickname "Big Mama" at this time. In August, at a recording session in southwest Los Angeles, she was approached by the young songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller—soon to become rock & roll legends. They offered her a 12-bar blues vocal called "Hound Dog," which she liked and paired on a single with her own "They Call Me Big Mama" on the B-side. Her exuberant "Hound Dog," laden with open sexual references, whoops, and barks, was released nationwide in 1953 and soon topped the R&B charts. Despite its sale of two million copies, Thornton received only $500. In contrast, Elvis Presley's 1956 version, heavily refined for mainstream audiences, brought him both fame and considerable financial reward. This is perhaps the most notorious example of the inequity that often existed when a black original was covered by a white artist.

Rhythm & blues were soon eclipsed by the growth of rock & roll, and Thornton's career slowed in the mid-1950s, although she was only in her thirties. Her agreements with both Robey and Otis expired, and in the late 1950s, she moved to San Francisco to perform with her old friend Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, a former Duke-Peacock artist. She had no contract or regular band and endured a number of difficult years. Fortunately, traditional blues were revived by the mid-1960s through the enthusiastic interest of artists such as Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and the Rolling Stones, and the Bay Area became a center of blues activity. Although she still did not have regular support, Thornton always was invited to the Monterey Jazz Festival and in 1965 toured Europe with the American Folk Blues Festival, an unusual honor for a female artist.

In the late 1960s, she made several seminal recordings for Chris Strachwitz, producer of Arhoolie Records, including Big Mama Thornton: In Europe (1966), backed by Buddy Guy, Walter Horton, and Freddy Below; Big Mama Thornton with the Chicago Blues Band (1966), with Muddy Waters, Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins, and Otis Spann; and Ball & Chain (1968), a compilation of original work by Thornton, Hopkins, and Larry Williams. Rock artists took note of these powerful recordings. The title song of Ball & Chain became a signature song for Thornton's great admirer Janis Joplin, and in September 1968 Thornton appeared at the Sky River Rock Festival with a lineup that included the Grateful Dead, James Cotton, and Santana.

The 1970s brought more documentation of her work: Saved (Pentagram Records), She's Back (Backbeat), and Jail and Sassy Mama! (Vanguard). Also at this time, however, years of heavy drinking began to affect Thornton's health. She had to be led to the bandstand at the 1979 San Francisco Blues Festival, and despite illness gave a stunning performance. She survived a serious auto accident and rallied to perform at the 1983 Newport Jazz Festival with Muddy Waters, B. B. King, and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, resulting in a live recording, The Blues—A Real Summit Meeting (Buddha Records). Thornton's final compilation, Quit Snoopin' Round My Door, was released posthumously by Ace Records (U.K.). Willie Mae Thornton died of a heart attack in Los Angeles on July 25, 1984, at the age of 57. The funeral was led by her old friend, now Reverend Johnny Otis, and many artists paid tribute. She was buried in Inglewood Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. That same year, she was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame.

Additional Resources
Dicaire, David. Blues Singers: Biographies of 50 Legendary Artists of the Early 20th Century. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland Press, 1999.
Grattan, Virginia. American Women Songwriters: A Biographical Dictionary. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1993.
Smith, Jesse Carney, ed. Powerful Black Women. Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 1996.

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She is a major reason that I got into blues music as a kid.

We have an excellent little blues station here in Springfield, I hear Big Momma every once in a while.