MEMPHIS MINNIE

Memphis Minnie

Nació en Algerie, Luisiana (Estados Unidos), en una granja, el 3 de junio de 1897. Su verdadero nombre era Lizzie Douglas. Era la mayor de una familia de 13 hermanos. De pequeña trabajaba cantando en las calles de Memphis para recibir algo de dinero, y adoptó el nombre de Kid Douglas. Entre 1916 y 1920 recorrió el sur de Estados Unidos junto con un circo. En la década del 20 se casó con el músico Casey Bill Weldon, pero la relación no duró mucho. En 1929 conoce al guitarrista Joe McCoy y se casa con él. Formaron un dúo que duró 5 años y tuvo considerable repercusión en el mundo de la música. Más tarde se casaría con Ernest Lawlard. 

Entre los años 40 y comienzo de los 50, su prestigio creció poco a poco. No sólo cantaba sino que tocaba la guitarra muy bien con gran dominio del escenario. Realizó giras por todo el país con grandes músicos como Big Bill Broonzy. En 1961 muere su tercer esposo de un problema de apoplejía. Al poco tiempo, ella sufre de un problema similar que le generó problemas para hablar. A fines de los 60 no podía hablar ni tocar la guitarra. Muere el 6 de agosto de 1973, tras pasar sus últimos días en clínicas y asilos. Leer más (inglés).....
 

Lizzie Douglas (June 3, 1897 – August 6, 1973), known as Memphis Minnie, was a Blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter whose recording career lasted from the 1920s to the 1950s. She recorded around 200 songs, some of the best known being "Bumble Bee", "Nothing in Rambling", and "Me and My Chauffeur Blues". Her performances and songwriting made her well known in a genre dominated mostly by men. She died on August 6, 1973 in Memphis, Tennessee. 

Lizzie Douglas was born on June 3, 1897 in Algiers, Louisiana. She was the eldest of 13 siblings. Her parents Abe and Gertrude Douglas nicknamed her "Kid" during her early childhood. Her family called her "Kid" throughout her childhood because she never liked the name "Lizzie", and when she first began performing she played under the name Kid Douglas.

When she was 7 she and her family moved to Walls, Mississippi, a town a little to the South of Memphis. The following year she received her first guitar for Christmas, and learned to play banjo by the age of 10 and guitar by the age of 11, when she started playing local parties. The family later moved to Brunswick, Tennessee, but after Minnie's mother died in 1922 her father moved back to Walls, where he died thirteen years later in 1935.

In 1910, at the age of 13, she ran away from her home to live on Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee. She played on street corners for most of her teenage years, although she would periodically return to her family's farm when she ran out of money. Her sidewalk performances led to a four-year tour of the South with the Ringling Brothers Circus from 1916 to 1920. Eventually she came back to Beale Street and got involved in the blues scene. At the time, women, whiskey, and cocaine were high in demand with the people and places she would be around. She made her money by playing guitar, singing, and prostitution, which was not uncommon at the time, many female performers also working as prostitutes because of financial desperation. It was said that "she received $12 for her services - an outrageous fee for the time." Read more...