Jump to content

Diamond Teeth Mary: Difference between revisions

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
m Added the Huntington station blues festival
 
(39 intermediate revisions by 26 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{short description|American singer}}

{{Infobox musical artist
{{Infobox musical artist
| background = solo_singer
| name = Diamond Teeth Mary
| image = Mary McClain (L) and Ida Goodson performing at the 1982 Florida Folk Festival- White Springs, Florida (7703908538).jpg
| instrument =
| name = Diamond Teeth Mary
| caption = McClain (left) performing in 1982
| image =
| birth_name = Mary Smith
| caption =
| alias = Walking Mary<br>Mary McClain
| birth_name = Mary Smith
| birth_date = {{birth date|1902|8|27|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Huntington, West Virginia]], United States
| alias = Walking Mary<br>Mary McClain
| birth_date = {{birth date|1902|8|27|mf=y}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|2000|4|4|1902|8|27|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Huntington, West Virginia]], United States
| death_place = [[St. Petersburg, Florida]], US
⚫
| genre = [[Blues]], [[vaudeville]], [[gospel music|gospel]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|2000|4|4|1902|8|27|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[St. Petersburg, Florida]], US
| instrument = [[Human voice|Vocals]]
| years_active = 1910s-1990s
⚫
| genre = [[Blues]], [[vaudeville]], [[gospel music|gospel]]
| instrument = [[Human voice|Vocals]]
| associated_acts = [[Bessie Smith]]
| years_active = 1910s-1990s
| website =
| associated_acts = [[Bessie Smith]]
| website =
}}
}}
'''"Diamond Teeth" Mary McClain''' (born '''Mary Smith''', August 27, 1902 &ndash; April 4, 2000) was an [[United States|American]] [[blues]] and [[gospel music|gospel]] singer and [[vaudeville]] entertainer, whose career as a performer extended from the 1910s to the 1990s.
'''"Diamond Teeth" Mary McClain''' (born '''Mary Smith''', August 27, 1902 &ndash; April 4, 2000) was an American [[blues]] and [[gospel music|gospel]] singer and [[vaudeville]] entertainer, whose career as a performer extended from the 1910s to the 1990s.


==Biography==
==Biography==
Mary Smith was born in [[Huntington, West Virginia]], and was a [[half-sister]] of blues singer [[Bessie Smith]]; Bessie's mother Laura (née Owens) married Mary's father.<ref name=aaregistry>[http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/mary-diamond-teeth-mcclain-original Lawrence Cohn (ed.), Mary "Diamond Teeth" McClain, ''Nothing But the Blues The Music and the Musicians'', Abbeville Publishing Group, 1993, reprinted at ''African American Registry'']. Retrieved 11 July 2014</ref> She left home at the age of 13, to avoid beatings, and joined a [[circus]]. She performed as a [[chorus girl]] in [[Memphis, Tennessee]], and in various [[minstrel show]]s during the 1920s and 1930s, including Irwin C. Miller's Brown Skin Models, the Davis S. Bell Medicine Show, and [[F. S. Wolcott]]'s [[Rabbit Foot Minstrels]].<ref name=wv>[http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/2366 Michael Lipton, "Mary McClain", ''The West Virginia Encyclopedia'', 19 December 2011]. Retrieved 11 July 2014</ref><ref name=folk>[http://www.folkstreams.net/principal,492 "Diamond Teeth Mary McClain", ''FolkStreams.net'']. Retrieved 11 July 2014</ref> She was known as "'''Walking Mary'''" until the 1940s.<ref name=folk/> She worked with Bessie Smith, and was present at her death in 1937, later saying: "Bessie was lying in a hospital waiting room, her arm hanging by a thread and bleeding in a pan while the white doctors stood by and watched doing nothing. They let her die."<ref name=aaregistry/>
Smith was born in [[Huntington, West Virginia]]. She was a [[half-sister]] of the blues singer [[Bessie Smith]] (Bessie's mother, Laura, née Owens, married Mary's father).<ref name=aaregistry>[http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/mary-diamond-teeth-mcclain-original Cohn, Lawrence, ed. (1993), "Mary 'Diamond Teeth' McClain". ''Nothing But the Blues: The Music and the Musicians''. Abbeville Publishing Group. Reprinted in ''African American Registry''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714185530/http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/mary-diamond-teeth-mcclain-original |date=2014-07-14 }}. Retrieved 11 July 2014</ref> She left home at the age of 13, to avoid beatings, and joined a [[circus]]. She performed as a [[chorus girl]] in [[Memphis, Tennessee]], and in various [[minstrel show]]s during the 1920s and 1930s, including [[Irvin C. Miller]]'s Brown Skin Models, the Davis S. Bell Medicine Show, and [[F. S. Wolcott]]'s [[Rabbit Foot Minstrels]].<ref name=wv>[http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/2366 Michael Lipton, "Mary McClain", ''The West Virginia Encyclopedia'', 19 December 2011]. Retrieved 11 July 2014</ref><ref name=folk>[http://www.folkstreams.net/principal,492 "Diamond Teeth Mary McClain", ''FolkStreams.net''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023184527/http://www.folkstreams.net/principal,492 |date=2013-10-23 }}. Retrieved 11 July 2014.</ref> She was known as "'''Walking Mary'''" until the 1940s.<ref name=folk/> She worked with Bessie Smith and was present at her death in 1937, later saying, "Bessie was lying in a hospital waiting room, her arm hanging by a thread and bleeding in a pan while the white doctors stood by and watched doing nothing. They let her die."<ref name=aaregistry/>

⚫
In the 1940s, she had diamonds removed from a bracelet and set into her front teeth, creating a dazzling effect and giving her a new stage name, "Diamond Teeth Mary". The diamonds were eventually removed to help pay her mother's medical bills.<ref name=folk/> She performed in [[nightclub]]s and theatres (including the [[Apollo Theatre]]) and toured Europe with the [[United Service Organizations]] (USO). She also sang at the [[Cotton Club]] and [[Carnegie Hall]].<ref name=aaregistry/><ref name=wv/> At various times she performed with [[Billie Holiday]], [[Sarah Vaughan]], [[Ray Charles]], [[Count Basie]], [[Nat King Cole]], and [[Duke Ellington]], and she was often promoted as the "Queen of the Blues".<ref name=wv/><ref name=queen>[http://www.sptimes.com/News/042800/news_pf/Alive/Remembering__Queen_of.shtml Di Pietra, Maggie Council (2000). "Remembering 'Queen of Blues'". ''St. Petersburg Times''. April 28, 2000]. Retrieved 11 July 2014.</ref> She continued to play with touring shows, and in 1954 was reported as being the lead blues singer with the Rabbit's Foot Minstrels.<ref name=abbott>[https://books.google.com/books?id=u4rc-BKNCyoC&dq=%22Pat+Chappelle%22&pg=PA248 Abbott, Lynn; Seroff, Doug (2009). ''Ragged But Right: Black Traveling Shows, Coon Songs, and the Dark Pathway to Blues and Jazz''], University Press of Mississippi. p. 288.</ref>

⚫
Among the stories she told about her long career were that she had lived for a time with the [[baseball]] star [[Satchel Paige]] and that the young [[Elvis Presley]] "would bring [[Howlin' Wolf]] and me liquor from the liquor cabinet."<ref name=aaregistry/> The blues singer [[Johnny Copeland]] said of her, "Mary is why I became a musician. I remember peeking under the tent when the medicine show came through town. She was the big star and I was the little boy who said I want to be on that stage too."<ref name=bigboss>[http://www.bigbossblues.com/DiamondTeethMary.asp "Diamond Teeth Mary", ''Big Boss Records'']. Retrieved 11 July 2014.</ref> [[John Lee Hooker]] and [[Big Mama Thornton]] also credited her with giving them their start in the music business.<ref name=bigboss/>


[[File:Diamond Teeth Mary marker Huntington.jpg|thumb|Marker at [[Huntington station (Baltimore and Ohio Railroad)|Huntington Station]], where Mary hopped her first train.]]
⚫
In the 1940s, she had diamonds removed from a bracelet and set into her front teeth, creating a dazzling effect and giving her a new stage name of "'''Diamond Teeth Mary'''". The diamonds were eventually removed to help pay her mother's medical bills.<ref name=folk/> She performed in [[nightclub]]s, theatres including the [[Apollo Theatre]], and toured Europe with the [[United Service Organizations]] (USO). She also sang at the [[Cotton Club]] and [[Carnegie Hall]].<ref name=aaregistry/><ref name=wv/> At various times she performed with [[Billie Holiday]], [[Sarah Vaughan]], [[Ray Charles]], [[Count Basie]], [[Nat 'King' Cole]], and [[Duke Ellington]], and she was often promoted as "Queen of the Blues".<ref name=wv/><ref name=queen>[http://www.sptimes.com/News/042800/news_pf/Alive/Remembering__Queen_of.shtml Maggie Council Di Pietra, "Remembering 'Queen of Blues'", ''St. Petersburg Times'', April 28, 2000]. Retrieved 11 July 2014</ref> She continued to play with touring shows, and in 1954 was reported as being the lead blues singer with the Rabbit's Foot Minstrels.<ref name=abbott>[http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=u4rc-BKNCyoC&pg=PA248&lpg=PA248&dq=%22Pat+Chappelle%22&source=bl&ots=7u2N8ttCNC&sig=oCXpr-sKQPAmiNmKxyEBHIHw--s&hl=en&sa=X&ei=fk-4U9-UJPLP0AWP5oDQDw&ved=0CCQQ6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q=%22Pat%20Chappelle%22&f=false Lynn Abbott, Doug Seroff, ''Ragged But Right: Black Traveling Shows, Coon Songs, and the Dark Pathway to Blues and Jazz''], Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2009, p.288</ref>


⚫
In 1960 she settled in [[Bradenton, Florida]], and in 1964 married her second husband, Clifford McClain, who died in 1983.<ref name=wv/> She began singing [[gospel music]] rather than secular blues, giving up her nightclub engagements but becoming a star at local church events.<ref name=folk/> In the late 1970s, she was tracked down by Steven Zeitlin of the [[Smithsonian Institution]], and started to be given national exposure. She performed at the [[Smithsonian Folklife Festival]] and sang for President [[Ronald Reagan]] at the [[White House]] in 1980.<ref name=queen/> She was featured in a documentary, ''Free Show Tonight''; toured in Europe in 1981; and appeared in an [[off-Broadway]] production, ''The Vi-Ton-Ka Medicine Show'' in 1983.<ref name=aaregistry/><ref name=folk/>
⚫
Among the stories she told about her long career was that she had lived for a time with [[baseball]] star [[Satchel Paige]], and that the young [[Elvis Presley]] "would bring [[Howlin' Wolf]] and me liquor from the liquor cabinet."<ref name=aaregistry/> Blues singer [[Johnny Copeland]] said of her: "Mary is why I became a musician. I remember peeking under the tent when the medicine show came through town. She was the big star and I was the little boy who said I want to be on that stage too."<ref name=bigboss>[http://www.bigbossblues.com/DiamondTeethMary.asp "Diamond Teeth Mary", ''Big Boss Records'']. Retrieved 11 July 2014</ref> [[John Lee Hooker]] and [[Big Mama Thornton]] also credited her with giving them their start in the music business.<ref name=bigboss/>


⚫
In 1986, she became one of the first recipients of the Florida Folk Heritage Award.<ref name=wv/><ref name=florida>[http://www.museumoffloridahistory.com/exhibits/previous/voices.cfm?id=35 "Mary Smith McClain (Diamond Teeth Mary)". ''Museum of Florida History''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714213214/http://www.museumoffloridahistory.com/exhibits/previous/voices.cfm?id=35 |date=2014-07-14 }}. Retrieved 11 July 2014.</ref> She recorded her first album, ''If I Can't Sell It, I'm Gonna Sit on It'', released by Big Boss Records in 1993.<ref name=bigboss/><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=XQU3AgAAQBAJ&dq=%22If+I+Can%27t+Sell+It%2C+I%27m+Gonna+Sit+On+It%22+mcclain&pg=PA665 Komara, Edward; Lee, Peter, eds. (2004). ''The Blues Encyclopedia''. Routledge. pp. 664–665]</ref> She toured Europe again in the 1990s,<ref name=queen/> and continued to perform at blues festivals until shortly before her death in 2000, at the age of 97. Her [[Cremation|ashes]] were scattered on the railroad tracks in West Virginia where she first hopped a train.<ref name=aaregistry/><ref name=wv/>
⚫
In 1960 she settled in [[Bradenton, Florida]], and in 1964 married her second husband, Clifford McClain, who died in 1983.<ref name=wv/> She began singing [[gospel music]] rather than secular blues, giving up her nightclub engagements but becoming a star at local church events.<ref name=folk/> In the late 1970s, she was tracked down by Steven Zeitlin of the [[Smithsonian Institution]], and started to be given national exposure. She performed at the Smithsonian's [[American Folklife Festival]], and sang for [[President Reagan]] at the [[White House]] in 1980.<ref name=queen/> She also featured in a documentary, ''Free Show Tonight''; toured Europe in 1981; and appeared in an [[off-Broadway]] production, ''The Vi-Ton-Ka Medicine Show'' in 1983.<ref name=aaregistry/><ref name=folk/>


A play about her life premiered at the Florida Folk Festival in 2000. Her gowns were later put on display in the Florida State Museum and the [[Blues Hall of Fame]] Museum in Memphis.<ref name=wv/><ref name=folk/> Since 2009, there has been a Diamond Teeth Mary Blues Festival, hosted at the [[Huntington station (Baltimore and Ohio Railroad)|Huntington Station]], in [[Huntington, West Virginia]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Halsey |first=Derek |date=2024-08-22 |title=15th Diamond Teeth Mary Medicine Show and Blues Festival returns to Heritage Station |url=https://www.herald-dispatch.com/features_entertainment/15th-diamond-teeth-mary-medicine-show-and-blues-festival-returns-to-heritage-station/article_d3e0d89e-5ff6-11ef-b9ce-833a92c90056.html |access-date=2024-09-03 |website=[[The Herald-Dispatch]] |language=en}}</ref>
⚫
In 1986, she became one of the first recipients of the Florida Folk Heritage Award.<ref name=florida>[http://www.museumoffloridahistory.com/exhibits/previous/voices.cfm?id=35 "Mary Smith McClain (Diamond Teeth Mary)", ''Museum of Florida History'']. Retrieved 11 July 2014</ref><ref name=wv/> She recorded her first album, ''If I Can't Sell It, I'm Gonna Sit On It'', released by Big Boss Records in 1993.<ref>[http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XQU3AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA665&lpg=PA665&dq=%22If+I+Can%27t+Sell+It,+I%27m+Gonna+Sit+On+It%22+mcclain&source=bl&ots=BnIMqw24iL&sig=G-uYmnL4AxqtWE5_k679txRimig&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vT3AU52PLKOf0QXhnoCYDw&ved=0CDsQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=%22If%20I%20Can't%20Sell%20It%2C%20I'm%20Gonna%20Sit%20On%20It%22%20mcclain&f=false Edward Komara, Peter Lee (eds.), ''The Blues Encyclopedia'', Routledge, 2004, pp.664-665]</ref><ref name=bigboss/> She toured Europe again in the 1990s,<ref name=queen/> and continued to perform at blues festivals until shortly before her death in 2000, at the age of 97. Her [[Cremation|ashes]] were scattered on the railroad tracks in West Virginia where she hopped her first train.<ref name=aaregistry/><ref name=wv/>


==Discography==
A play about her life was premiered at the Florida Folk Festival in 2000. Her gowns were later put on display in the [[Florida State Museum]] and the [[Memphis Blues Museum]].<ref name=wv/><ref name=folk/>
*1993 - ''If I Can't Sell It, I'm Gonna Sit on It''
*1993 - ''Walking Mary’s Blues''


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}
{{West Virginia Music Hall of Fame}}
{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Diamond Teeth Mary}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diamond Teeth Mary}}
Line 39: Line 47:
[[Category:2000 deaths]]
[[Category:2000 deaths]]
[[Category:American blues singers]]
[[Category:American blues singers]]
[[Category:American female singers]]
[[Category:Musicians from Huntington, West Virginia]]
[[Category:People from Huntington, West Virginia]]
[[Category:American vaudeville performers]]
[[Category:Vaudeville performers]]
[[Category:20th-century American singers]]
[[Category:Blues musicians from West Virginia]]
[[Category:20th-century American women singers]]
[[Category:Singers from West Virginia]]

Latest revision as of 01:47, 3 September 2024

Diamond Teeth Mary
McClain (left) performing in 1982
McClain (left) performing in 1982
Background information
Birth nameMary Smith
Also known asWalking Mary
Mary McClain
Born(1902-08-27)August 27, 1902
Huntington, West Virginia, United States
DiedApril 4, 2000(2000-04-04) (aged 97)
St. Petersburg, Florida, US
GenresBlues, vaudeville, gospel
InstrumentVocals
Years active1910s-1990s

"Diamond Teeth" Mary McClain (born Mary Smith, August 27, 1902 – April 4, 2000) was an American blues and gospel singer and vaudeville entertainer, whose career as a performer extended from the 1910s to the 1990s.

Biography

[edit]

Smith was born in Huntington, West Virginia. She was a half-sister of the blues singer Bessie Smith (Bessie's mother, Laura, née Owens, married Mary's father).[1] She left home at the age of 13, to avoid beatings, and joined a circus. She performed as a chorus girl in Memphis, Tennessee, and in various minstrel shows during the 1920s and 1930s, including Irvin C. Miller's Brown Skin Models, the Davis S. Bell Medicine Show, and F. S. Wolcott's Rabbit Foot Minstrels.[2][3] She was known as "Walking Mary" until the 1940s.[3] She worked with Bessie Smith and was present at her death in 1937, later saying, "Bessie was lying in a hospital waiting room, her arm hanging by a thread and bleeding in a pan while the white doctors stood by and watched doing nothing. They let her die."[1]

In the 1940s, she had diamonds removed from a bracelet and set into her front teeth, creating a dazzling effect and giving her a new stage name, "Diamond Teeth Mary". The diamonds were eventually removed to help pay her mother's medical bills.[3] She performed in nightclubs and theatres (including the Apollo Theatre) and toured Europe with the United Service Organizations (USO). She also sang at the Cotton Club and Carnegie Hall.[1][2] At various times she performed with Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Ray Charles, Count Basie, Nat King Cole, and Duke Ellington, and she was often promoted as the "Queen of the Blues".[2][4] She continued to play with touring shows, and in 1954 was reported as being the lead blues singer with the Rabbit's Foot Minstrels.[5]

Among the stories she told about her long career were that she had lived for a time with the baseball star Satchel Paige and that the young Elvis Presley "would bring Howlin' Wolf and me liquor from the liquor cabinet."[1] The blues singer Johnny Copeland said of her, "Mary is why I became a musician. I remember peeking under the tent when the medicine show came through town. She was the big star and I was the little boy who said I want to be on that stage too."[6] John Lee Hooker and Big Mama Thornton also credited her with giving them their start in the music business.[6]

Marker at Huntington Station, where Mary hopped her first train.

In 1960 she settled in Bradenton, Florida, and in 1964 married her second husband, Clifford McClain, who died in 1983.[2] She began singing gospel music rather than secular blues, giving up her nightclub engagements but becoming a star at local church events.[3] In the late 1970s, she was tracked down by Steven Zeitlin of the Smithsonian Institution, and started to be given national exposure. She performed at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and sang for President Ronald Reagan at the White House in 1980.[4] She was featured in a documentary, Free Show Tonight; toured in Europe in 1981; and appeared in an off-Broadway production, The Vi-Ton-Ka Medicine Show in 1983.[1][3]

In 1986, she became one of the first recipients of the Florida Folk Heritage Award.[2][7] She recorded her first album, If I Can't Sell It, I'm Gonna Sit on It, released by Big Boss Records in 1993.[6][8] She toured Europe again in the 1990s,[4] and continued to perform at blues festivals until shortly before her death in 2000, at the age of 97. Her ashes were scattered on the railroad tracks in West Virginia where she first hopped a train.[1][2]

A play about her life premiered at the Florida Folk Festival in 2000. Her gowns were later put on display in the Florida State Museum and the Blues Hall of Fame Museum in Memphis.[2][3] Since 2009, there has been a Diamond Teeth Mary Blues Festival, hosted at the Huntington Station, in Huntington, West Virginia.[9]

Discography

[edit]
  • 1993 - If I Can't Sell It, I'm Gonna Sit on It
  • 1993 - Walking Mary’s Blues

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f Cohn, Lawrence, ed. (1993), "Mary 'Diamond Teeth' McClain". Nothing But the Blues: The Music and the Musicians. Abbeville Publishing Group. Reprinted in African American Registry Archived 2014-07-14 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 11 July 2014
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Michael Lipton, "Mary McClain", The West Virginia Encyclopedia, 19 December 2011. Retrieved 11 July 2014
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Diamond Teeth Mary McClain", FolkStreams.net Archived 2013-10-23 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
  4. ^ a b c Di Pietra, Maggie Council (2000). "Remembering 'Queen of Blues'". St. Petersburg Times. April 28, 2000. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
  5. ^ Abbott, Lynn; Seroff, Doug (2009). Ragged But Right: Black Traveling Shows, Coon Songs, and the Dark Pathway to Blues and Jazz, University Press of Mississippi. p. 288.
  6. ^ a b c "Diamond Teeth Mary", Big Boss Records. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
  7. ^ "Mary Smith McClain (Diamond Teeth Mary)". Museum of Florida History Archived 2014-07-14 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
  8. ^ Komara, Edward; Lee, Peter, eds. (2004). The Blues Encyclopedia. Routledge. pp. 664–665
  9. ^ Halsey, Derek (2024-08-22). "15th Diamond Teeth Mary Medicine Show and Blues Festival returns to Heritage Station". The Herald-Dispatch. Retrieved 2024-09-03.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Diamond_Teeth_Mary&oldid=1243721965"