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Big Maybelle
American R&B singer (1924–1972)
Mabel Louise Smith, known professionally as Big Maybelle, was an American R&B singer. Her 1956 hit single "Candy" received the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999.
Born in Jackson, Tennessee, on May 1, 1924, Big Maybelle sang gospel as a child; by her teens, she had switched to rhythm and blues. She began her professional career with Dave Clark's Memphis Band in 1936, and also toured with the all-female International Sweethearts of Rhythm. She then joined Christine Chatman's Orchestra, and made her first recordings with Chatman in 1944, before recording with the Tiny Bradshaw's Orchestra from 1947 to 1950.
After 1959, she recorded for a variety of labels, but the hits largely dried up. She continued to perform into the early 1960s. Her last hit single was in 1967, a cover of "96 Tears" by Question Mark & the Mysterians. By the 1960s, Maybelle's heroin use began detrimentally impacting her career.
American jazz and rhythm & blues singer, born May 1, 1924 in Jackson, Tennessee, died of diabetic coma, January 23, 1972 in Cleveland, Ohio.
She was the singer of the International Sweethearts Of Rhythm from 1936 to 1944, made her first recordings for King in 1947, and continued to record for OKeh 1952-1955, Savoy 1956-1959, and for Brunswick/Rojac in the mid-1960s. Mostly inactive in music due to illness from late 1960s.
Also known as: 'Big' Maybelle "America's Queen Mother Of Soul", B. Smith, Big Mabel, Big Maybell, Big Maybella
From Discogs (free to use). Their entry
Liner notes
Big Maybelle, the records, oldest first
Big Maybelle Sings
1958 album
What More Can a Woman Do?
1962 album
The Soul Of Big Maybelle
1965 album
Got A Brand New Bag
1966 album
The Gospel Soul of Big Maybelle
1968 album
Candy
2001 album
Half Heaven, Half Heartache: The Brunswick Recordings
2001 album
Records from MusicBrainz; covers from the Cover Art Archive.
