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Ida Prather, born February 25, 1896 in Toccoa, Georgia, left home at
fourteen to work as a comedian and singer in Vaudeville and in the Tent Shows
and became one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s. In June 1923
Cox signed with Paramount Records and made her recording debut with Lovie Austin
(piano) and stayed with Paramount
until 1929. During this period she recorded 78 sides.
She made about a hundred
recordings between 1923 and 1940 with some of the best jazz musicians
accompanying her, such as Johnny Dodds, Buster Bailey, Charlie Green, Tommy
Ladnier, Kid Ory, James P. Johnson, Lester Young... She also wrote blues songs,
which were recorded by others such as Bessie Smith (e.g. "Nobody Knows You
When You're Down And Out"). Paramount billed her as the
"Uncrowned Queen of the Blues."
Cox, like Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey, symbolized the liberated spirit of blues women.
In her particular way, Ida Cox was a feminist. The songs she wrote and performed
targeted the women in her audience. "Wild Women Don't Have the Blues"
is a song that alludes to sexual freedom. "Pink Slip Blues" dealt with
the woes of unemployment. "Last Mile Blues" is a song about capital
punishment.
A very stylish woman, Cox possessed a lavish wardrobe.
Very much in control of her caree, she was a shrewd
business woman: hired all of her own
musicians, produced her own stage shows, and managed her own touring company,
called Raising Cain.
By the 1930's people's taste in music changed and Ida Cox, like other Classic
Blues artists, lost popularity. Yet she continued to perform and
caught a break in 1939 when hired by producer John Hammond to perform at Carnegie
Hall In 1939 and sang in Hammond's "From spirituals to swing" concert,
which led to some new recordings in the 1940's. Cox suffered a stroke in
1944 and was forced into retirement. In 1961 she was coaxed out of retirement to
record one final session.
In 1945 she suffered a stroke when singing in a club in Buffalo, NY.
She then retired in Knoxville, Tennessee although she did record some songs in
1961. She died in 1967 from cancer.She died of Cancer in 1967.
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(Ida Cox). This is from Collector's
Classics LP CC56, from a session recorded by Ida Cox and
her All Star Band in New York on 31 October 1939. Her
All Stars included a.o. Hot Lips Page on trumpet and
James P. Johnson at the piano. |
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