SMITH, MAMIE

SMITH, MAMIE (née MAMIE ROBINSON). Blues singer (26 May 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio; 16 September 1946 in New York, New York). She began her professional career as a vaudeville singer; she toured with The Four Dancing Mitchells and Salem Tutt Whitney's Smart Set show. In 1913 she settled in New York and soon established herself as a leading cabaret singer. On 14 February 1920 she made her first recording and thereby established a landmark in the history of American music:...