Big Mama Thornton

Big Mama Thornton, born Willie Mae Thornton, was an American blues singer and songwriter known for a powerful, gritty vocal delivery and a commanding stage presence. Her work in the 1950s blended jump blues, urban blues, and rhythm and blues, often backed by driving rhythms, electric guitar, and harmonica, and her 1952 recording of "Hound Dog" is an early, widely noted version that showcased her fierce style. Thornton remained an influential and distinctive voice in mid-20th century American blues and continued to perform and record into the 1970s and early 1980s, dying in 1984.