Photo: Erica Brown & Hazel Miller | By Elle Naef, Peter Vo, Rocky Mountain PBS | December 11th is a big day for the blues and, depending who you ask, for the world. It marks the day Willie Mae Thornton, aka Big Mama Thornton was born — a woman whose defiance of stereotypes changed music as we know it.
Thornton is known for the songs “Hound Dog,” which was written specifically for Thornton by Mike Stoller and Jerry Lieber, and for “Ball and Chain.” While the songs were popularized by white artists Elvis Presley and Janis Joplin, the story of Thornton, her influence on contemporary music, and the credit she was due for her contributions are often left untold.
During her 44-year career, Thornton was nominated for the Blues Music Awards six times, wrote and recorded more than 20 songs, and in 1984, the year of her death, she was inducted into to the Blues Hall of Fame. In 2020, she was also inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.
In honor of Thornton’s birthday, Colorado-based blues musicians who shared the stage with Thornton and follow in her footsteps gathered to play her music and reminisce on her impact.
“Big Mama Thornton paved the way for people like me, you know, to do what I do today and to do it the way I do it and to do it with the feeling that I do it with,” said Erica Brown, a Denver-based blues musician who tells Thornton’s story by covering her music and sharing the story of her life.
Erica Brown has taken on the mission to honor Thornton’s legacy and said it woke her up in the dead of night.
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Other Colorado articles mentioned in the article are Sammy Mayfield and Dan Treanor.
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Read – or watch – the full article here, including how she got screwed out of her royalties:
https://www.rmpbs.org/blogs/rocky-mountain-pbs/big-mama-thornton-colorado/
Elle Naef is a multimedia producer and Peter Vo is a multimedia journalist for Rocky Mountain PBS.
Photo: Erica & Hazel | Photo by Ken Arias | From Erica’s Facebook page
Local Blues Legends Honor Big Mama Thornton’s Legacy
