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Memphis Minnie (1897-1973)

"Memphis Minnie's Music Is Harder Than the Coins That Roll Across the Counter."

Lizzie Douglas, later called Memphis Minnie, was born on June 3, 1897, in Algiers, Louisiana. In 1904, Memphis Minnie's family moved to Wall, Mississippi. Memphis Minnie began to play guitar and banjo as at age eight. In her youth, she was called Kid Douglas and played at house parties. At age thirteen, Memphis Minnie left home and went to Memphis, Tennessee where she played in clubs. During World War I, Memphis Minnie toured with the Ringling Brothers Circus. In the 1920s, Memphis Minnie worked again in Memphis. After she broke with her first husband, blues artist Casey Bill Weldon, she married Kansas Joe McCoy. Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe worked together in Memphis until they were discovered and made their first recordings in 1929 for Columbia (including the classic Bumble Bee). Since the 1920s, she began to use her stage name Memphis Minnie. In 1930, Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe moved to Chicago, Illinois. In Chicago, Memphis Minnie made many successful recordings. She broke up with Kansas Joe in 1935 and in 1939, Memphis Minnie married Ernest Lawlers (known as Little Son Joe). They played and recorded together as Memphis Minnie with Little Son Joe and his Band. In 1941, Memphis Minnie had her big hit Me and My Chauffeur. One year later, in 1942, Memphis Minnie switched to electric guitar. Unfortunately World War II interrupted Memphis Minnie's recording career, but she worked on live in the Chicago clubs. Memphis Minnie recorded again in the late 1940s and 1950s with Little Son Joe, but increasing health problems caused her to end her career. In 1957, Memphis Minnie and Little Son Joe moved to Memphis where Little Son Joe died in 1961. Memphis Minnie had to live in a nursing home. In 1973, Memphis Minnie suffered a stroke and died August 6, 1973, in Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis Minnie is regarded as one of the most important female blues artists. While many female blues artists in the 1920s and 1930s worked in a more jazz influenced milieu, only a few like Memphis Minnie preferred a style rooted in country blues. She sang and played the blues "like a man" as everybody said. "Memphis Minnie's music is harder than the coins that roll across the counter", author Langston Hughes wrote after listening to her in the 230 Club in Chicago in 1942. Memphis Minnie was inducted in Blues Hall of Fame in 1980.

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