Music Break - Victoria Spivey

Today's special birthday shout-out goes to the amazing Victoria Spivey, born on October 15, 1906. This lady was seriously kickass, all the way through her long and productive life.

Victoria Spivey was born into a family chock full of musical talent. Her father, employed as a railroad flagman, was also a part-time musician. Her mother was a nurse (I promise a longer post some day about African American women nurses around the turn of the last century -- it's a fascinating story!). And all three of her sisters were musicians.

Together, they formed a family string band, and performed around Houston, Texas. Sadly, her father died when she was only 7 years old, leaving her to find her way in the music business without him. As it turns out, she did quite well. Even as a child, she continued to perform at local parties, and at the age of 12 was hired to accompany films at the Lincoln Theater in Dallas.

All through her teen years, she worked in local bars, nightclubs, and buffet flats, learning and growing musically. She usually performed solo, but occasionally with other, more experienced singers and guitarists.

At the age of 19, she moved to St. Louis. It was there where she began her recording career. Her first song, "Black Snake Blues" was a success, followed by other songs that were equally well received. Because of her experience working in some of the shadier parts of town and hanging out with prostitutes and drug addicts, many of these characters and themes found their way into her music.

In the early '20s, she played in gambling parlors, gay hangouts, and brothels in Galveston and Houston with Blind Lemon Jefferson. Among Spivey's many influences was Ida Cox, herself a sassy blues woman, and taking her cue from Cox, Spivey wrote and recorded tunes like "TB Blues," "Dope Head Blues," and "Organ Grinder Blues." Spivey's other influences included Bobby "Blue" Bland, Sara Martin, and Bessie Smith. Like so many other women blues singers who had their heyday in the '20s and '30s, Spivey wasn't afraid to sing sexually suggestive lyrics, and this turned out to be a blessing nearly 40 years later given the sexual revolution of the '60s and early '70s.
(source: AllMusic.com)

By 1929, she was well known in the blues community, and was given the role of Missy Rose in the all black musical film Hallelujah directed by King Vidor. Even during the Great Depression, she was busy performing, touring and recording with many famous musicians of the era, including Louis Armstrong, as well as appearing in other films and musical reviews.

For a brief period in the 1950s, she was considered semi-retired. Even then her incredible musical talent was still a big part of her life, and she spent these years as choir director and pipe organist in her church. But when the folk music revival started in the early 1960s, she felt called back to secular music. This time, she was not only performing, but leading the charge to find and support new musicians as well as bring attention to other, lesser-known musicians from the past.

After taking a semi-retirement in the 1950s, Spivey returned to performing in the United States and internationally in Europe and in 1962 began her own record company, Spivey Records. She used this company as a vehicle to resurrect older blues artists as well as introduce new artists, including Luther Johnson, Lucille Span, Olive Brown, and the first recording of folk artist Bob Dylan. She also recorded some of her own music during this period and occasionally performed on television. By the time of her death in 1976 she had attained copyrights on the lyrics of at least seventy-five songs.
(source: Emory University)

Her immense talent and staying-power is truly remarkable.

Victoria Spivey was one of the more influential blues women simply because she was around long enough to influence legions of younger women and men who rediscovered blues music during the mid-'60s U.S. blues revival, which had been brought about by British blues bands as well as their American counterparts, like Paul Butterfield and Elvin Bishop. Spivey could do it all: she wrote songs, sang them well, and accompanied herself on piano and organ, and occasionally ukulele.
(source: AllMusic.com)

This is certainly one kickass blues lady who deserves plenty more attention!

If you like the work I do here at Self-Rescuing Princess Society,
please check out my Patreon.

---

For more information:

The Blues Trail - Victoria Spivey
Smithsonian Folkways
The Blindman's Blues Forum

---

You may also be interested in:

SRPS Shout-Out - Althea Gibson
"Shaking hands with the Queen of England was a long way from being forced to sit in the colored section of the bus going into downtown Wilmington, North Carolina." "I want the public to remember me as they knew me: athletic, smart, and healthy.... Remember me strong and tough and quick, fleet of foot and tenacious."

Eliza Ann Grier - the first black woman to receive a MD in Georgia
Very little is known about her early life. She was born during the Civil War. Her parents were slaves in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, which made her a slave as well. After emancipation, her family moved to Atlanta, where she grew up and attended school. She originally intended to become a teacher, and attended Fisk University.

Josephine Groves Holloway - A True Girl Scout
One such devoted Girl Scout leader was Josephine Groves Holloway. In 1923, Josephine, the daughter of a Methodist minister and a recent graduate from Fisk University with a degree in sociology, was working as a social worker for the Bethlehem Center in Nashville, Tennessee, a Methodist-run family resource center serving the black community.

Read More

Duchess Sophie-Elisabeth of Mecklenburg

Four hundred years ago, Duchess Sophie-Elisabeth of Mecklenburg was born into a life of immense wealth and privilege. But even as a noble woman her options for a fulfilling life were limited. With the support of her family she was able to build on her innate musical talents and produce many projects which have been remarkably well preserved as an example of early baroque compositions.

She was born on August 20th in 1613, into a wealthy family with a long history of supporting the arts. While it was not unusual for girls of her status to be given a basic education in language and culture, her experience was more than simply learning how to appreciate fine art and music. She was afforded the remarkable luxury of being able to study with many distinguished musicians, and eventually given the opportunity to become an important figure in the German baroque movement.

"At Güstrow, Sophie-Elisabeth's father maintained a thriving musical establishment, with a sizable contingent of English virtuoso performers in its orchestra. Sophie-Elisabeth and her sister Christine Margarete thus had rich opportunities to study the lute and gamba."

Her mother, a remarkable musical talent herself, died while Sophie-Elisabeth was still quite young. Her father soon remarried, and his second wife, Elisabeth, was an extraordinarily gifted musician and singer as well. In addition, she was fluent in several languages, as well as educated in theology.

"Following her personal convictions, Elisabeth of Hesse-Kassel involved herself directly for nine years in the education, including religious and musical tutoring, of the young Sophie-Elisabeth and her sister. Elisabeth's upbringing amid the intense musical activities and her father's court prepared her to be duchess at Güstrow, expanding its instrumental forces and actively encouraging festive court representations. Thus as a teacher and active musical administrator, she acted as an influential role model for her young charges at Güstrow. With adulthood, Sophie-Elisabeth would follow Elisabeth's example as an important musical impresario."

Tragically, when Sophie-Elisabeth was 13, Elisabeth, only 29 herself, died, leaving her father widowed and his children motherless for a second time. Proving the importance placed on music and arts training in the Güstrow estate, his third wife, Eleonore Marie, was also a well-educated woman, with a strong background in religion, languages, and especially music. She took over the continued education of Sophie-Elisabeth and Christine Margarete.

Only two years later in 1628, the whole family was forced to flee their home and homeland of Mecklenburg as exiles as the political and religious turmoil of the Thirty Years' War spread to the region. Sophie-Elisabeth and her sister spent the years at the Kassel court with the father of their former step-mother Elisabeth. While this experience must have been stressful for two young women in their formative teenage years, it was also likely a highly influential experience on Sophie-Elisabeth's musical experience, as the Kassel court had a "long and distinguished musical history." Her step-grandfather himself was an educated musician as well as a patron of the arts, and regularly hosted musical events as well as fostered a general atmosphere of refined culture.

After the family estate was liberated, Sophie-Elisabeth and her family returned to Mecklenburg, and slowly resumed their lives of luxury and study. In 1635, at the age of 22, Sophie-Elisabeth married Duke August the Younger of BraunschweigLüneburg, himself a highly educated man and patron of the arts.

The Thirty Years' War continued to rage in her homeland, Sophie-Elisabeth and her husband Duke August and his children were somewhat protected, and continued to participate in an active cultural life.

"Sophie-Elisabeth's humanist background fit in perfectly with the Wolfenbüttel court, a sophisticated center of German intellectuals and literati. She participated in several of Wolfenbüttel's exclusive literary-arts societies that she had joined early in her marriage: the Académie des Loyales, the Tugendliche Gesellschaft, and the Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft, in which she was given the pseudonyms die Fortbringende, die Gutfillige, and die Befreiende, respectively. Dedicated to the cultivation of works in the German language, Wolfenbüttel's Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft, however, offered full membership only to men. But with her status as Duke August's wife, Sophie-Elisabeth was thus admitted as an honorary member, one of the earliest women accepted into this society. Her participation in these organizations contributed significantly toward maintaining the Wolfenbüttel court as a major center of contemporary German and French literature."

Her marriage to the Duke gave her a rich cultural experience, and contributed to the expanding of the arts throughout Europe, despite the continued ravages of the war. While acting as a mother to the Duke's four children, as well as raising her own two children, she also managed much of the cultural events at court. By 1645 her husband was so busy with political duties he officially made her the administrator of the musical events of his court. She was tasked with the management of the musicians and structuring of the musical establishment. This duty sometimes even meant reprimanding her husband for failure to pay his court musicians.

It was during this time that she collaborated with Heinrich Schütz, an established composer affiliated with the nearby Dresden court. He acted as her mentor in the reorganization of the musical events at her husband's court, as well as helping her with her own musical compositions. With his assistance she was able to restructure the musical life at court after the chaos of the war.

"Sophie-Elisabeth -- because she was a woman -- never had been able to undertake the rigorous formal course of study, particularly in counterpoint, traditionally required of 'professional' male students for composing unaccompanied choral works." Schütz offered her suggestions for improvement and encouragement in her talents. In 1661, he wrote to her husband, praising her "as the incomparably perfect princess in all other princely virtues, especially in the praiseworthy profession of music."

"The earliest surviving collections of Sophie-Elisabeth's musical works and arrangements appear in three sizable manuscript collections now in Wolfenbüttel's Herzon-August-Bibliothek, the distinguished library founded by her husband."

Each of the three manuscript collection contains works of a similar type and period in her development, and document her improvement over time. Additionally, there are two songbook collections of works Sophie-Elisabeth created with her husband.

In her role as administrator of the musical events at court, she was involved in creating and producing twenty-five Festspiele -- "song-ballets, each one consisting of a series of dances with much vocal music embellishing the drama itself."  Not only did she organize these events, she also composed or arranged much of the music for them.

"Although twice left motherless in her childhood and subjected to the horrors and indignities of a terrible was, Sophie-Elisabeth transcended the typically circumscribed orbit of a female royal spouse in her day with its rather fixed cultural and gender roles. To the contrary, this musically gifted, persevering, compassionate, and politically astute duchess contributed significantly to the cultural history of the German early baroque period."

"Among the relatively few seventeenth-century German noblewomen composers of her day, Sophie-Elisabeth was also the first German woman composer to attain performances and publication of her works while she was living. That was no small feat."

While she may not have been up to the standards of many of her contemporary male composers, it is clear that she was quite talented and that this talent had been supported by her father and her husband, which in itself is quite remarkable. Her strength as a woman who had to overcome the hardships of life and war is evident in her quite capable handling of court affairs as duchess. That so many of her works have been preserved shows that she was a valued member of the court. She clearly deserves to be remembered as a talented and capable musician in her own right.

text source: Five Lives in Music: Women Performers, Composers, and Impresarios from the Baroque to the Present by Cecelia Hopkins Porter)

photo source: RoyaltyGuide.nl

Read More

KickStart This!

So very many more great projects to consider this week! Movies, music, and loads of great books!

When I saw the description for June, Adrift: A Real Indie Feature (No Offense, Zach Braff), my very first thought was, I'd watch the hell out of that! We get so many stories about young men trying to find themselves, but very few about women trying to figure their lives out. When I was in my 20s, it would have been wonderful to have a library filled with stories about women facing the same conflicts I was. Heck, now in my 40s, I'd still like to have that library.

After a series of humiliating encounters with members of her parents' generation, Emma makes the impulsive decision to return to her parents' house, vacant while they are traveling for the summer, in order to complete a boat kit given to her by an uncle fifteen years ago. As her enthusiasm for the project snowballs, she accidentally collects two traveling companions in Liesl and Rachel.

I grew up in a house full of music of all kinds. Some of my most cherished memories are the family car trips where everyone would sing along with the radio, with my musically talented parents singing in beautiful harmony. I think that's where I developed my love of a cappella music. When I played the clip for Beyond All Reason: Raising The BAR I knew I had to have a copy of their album!

Beyond All Reason is Saint Louis University’s only all-female a cappella group. The group was founded in 2002 and has been entertaining the masses ever since. BAR regularly performs on SLU’s campus and hosts two concert extravaganzas a year. With a repertoire that spans all genres and includes songs ranging from "It's Time" by Imagine Dragons to "At Last" by Etta James.

I have to admit I haven't read much from the manga side of the book shelf. But I do know that it has been instrumental in getting many young people back into the habit of reading. So when I see a graphic novel or manga that tells a story of a kickass young woman, I'm going to throw my support behind it! Jade Dragon Book 1 looks like a good story for young people. And it's important to me that Kaida's character is show wearing sensible clothing and acting in a completely normal teenage fashion.

Kaida Suzuki is a fifteen year old orphan who was raised by monks at a secret dojo, hidden away in the mountains. Abandoned on the doorsteps of the dojo as a child, Kaida has grown up with only her Master, Sensei Shin, to call family. Shin has always known there was something special about this girl so he has trained her in combat since Kaida’s first steps. Kaida was living the normal teenage life; going to school, getting teased by other kids, learning martial arts and keeping secret crushes. All was calm until the one night that would change her life forever.

Well, the above sentiment also applies to fantasy books. Like Melissa Drake's Daughter of Mythos: What if all the myths were real? 

15-year-old Nora Salvatore's dream of a normal life and a permanent family are ripped from her as she's thrust into a world where myths and magic are the reality. When an evil wizard plans to unleash an army of demons on Earth, Nora's the only one who can stop him.

OK. Fine. It also applies to every other book out there. I know a couple of school-aged girls (and boys) who will likely getting a copy of Sage Carrington, Eighth-Grade Science Sleuth, Volume #2 in the coming year!

Sage Carrington is a 12-year-old girl who lives in Washington, D.C. She’s a science lover who enjoys exploring the wonders of our natural world. Along with her best friend Isabel Flores, Sage is a confident, curious amateur sleuth who lives in a thriving community that enables and encourages her pursuit of happiness.

What projects are you excited about lately?

Read More

Happy Birthday Magda Tagliaferro

Having begun her concert career in 1908 at the age of fifteen with the aforementioned recital at the Salle Érard in Paris, not long afterwards Tagliaferro was selected by Fauré to tour with him, performing his works.

In the years preceding World War II Tagliaferro taught at the Paris Conservatoire, but at the outbreak of the war was sent by the French government to New York on a mission of propaganda to promote French music abroad. She gave her debut at Carnegie Hall and continued on to Brazil, remaining there for nine years and founding schools in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

Tagliaferro loved to perform and teach, and at the age of eighty-six, she returned to New York and gave a recital that included Schumann’s Carnaval Op. 9. New York Times critic Harold Schonberg wrote, ‘Not since the days of Rachmaninov and Friedman has this listener encountered such a basic understanding of, and feeling for, the composer’s mercurial moods. Everything made musical sense. But more to the point was the colour that Miss Tagliaferro employed: the weighting of chords, the introduction of inner voices when the sections were repeated, the solid bass underpinning in which key harmonies were reinforced… In its improvisatory quality, its infallible rhythm and perfect pacings, it was the essence of Schumann.’ At the age of ninety Tagliaferro was giving concerts in London, Paris and New York, and even in the year of her death when she was ninety-three she was still performing. 

One of the most colourful personalities and pianists of the twentieth century, Tagliaferro wrote in her memoirs, ‘I’m going to offer myself up entire and with humility. My life has all been Love, in the widest sense of the word. Everything I have created within or around me has been created with Love. Which is better? To love or to be loved? Never one to be satisfied, I have always needed both!’

(biography source: Naxos.com)

Read More

Happy Birthday Sophie Tucker - The Last of the Red Hot Mamas

I would love to write up a detailed history of her remarkable life, but there's just so much to cover! So, instead, please enjoy this selection of her songs, and then visit Jewish Women's Archive for more information on Sophie Tucker's life and adventures.

I've been rich and I've been poor; Believe me, honey, rich is better.

I've never sung a single song in my whole life on purpose to shock anyone. My 'hot numbers' are all, if you will notice, written about something that is real in the lives of millions of people.

I couldn't make her understand that it wasn't a career that I was after. It was just that I wanted a life that didn't mean spending most of it at the cookstove and the kitchen sink.

Happy Birthday Ms. Tucker!

Read More

KickStart this!

Cary Cooper's new album Zuzu's Petals. The video is told from the point of view of her daughter, but features some of her lovely music. And I love the idea of her stretching herself outside her comfort zone.

Learning and becoming competent on an instrument, and learning how to carry whole shows by myself were among the things that terrified me the most. But because I love doing what I do and can’t imagine doing anything else, I made the brave commitment to stretch and see just how far stretching would take me. As it turns out, I’ve stretched pretty far!

Heroine is a role playing game with an adventurous young woman protagonist, by Josh Jordan. I've heard so many great things about this project from my various gamer friends. We don't do a lot of story-telling around here, but I might have to get a copy anyway.

Heroine is a storytelling game inspired by books and movies like Wizard of Oz, Labyrinth, Alice in Wonderland, and The Chronicles of Narnia. I love these stories about a girl who has serious problems to deal with in her regular life, but who gets whisked away to the Other World, where she has an unusual chance to be heroic.

Invisible Warriors: African American Women in World War II -- will tell the stories of African American working during World War II -- fighting the war and fighting for their own civil rights. This looks like a great project and well worth funding for the historical value alone!

Keeper of the Stars, by Aubrey Jewel - "A tale of the magic found in the night sky in the form of an animated story." This looks like a lovely book for kids, young and old alike.

Fabulous artist Therese Obergottsberger is looking for some help getting her her work scanned and ready for a showing in New York in December. She's an amazing talent!

Diary of a Champion -- Looks like the kind of sports story I'd love to see. And the cast list is impressive.

When your passion and talent don't seem to be enough, the lengths one will go are detrimental. Following the story of Track & Field star Tahja Dupree, “Diary of a Champion” explores the politics and scandal behind the doors of competition between prominent track athletes and coaches preparing for the 2016 games.

And finally, just in time for the holi-daze, check out Heather "Cloe" Bloss' Spoonful of Cats Holiday Cards. I mean, who doesn't like cute cats in holiday scenes?

What KickStarter projects are you following?

Read More

Happy Birthday Kristin Chenoweth

I'm seriously in love with Kristin Chenoweth. What a performer! I initially fell in love with her in the last season of The West Wing, when she came on to play Annabeth.

She was a perfect fit with the cast I already knew and loved, and she shortly stole the limelight from everyone else! Seriously, she was such a spark!

Then she was Olive in Pushing Daisies. And they let her sing!

What a voice! Her performance on the Oprah finale had me in tears. I'm glad to see she's making her own music now too. She's a great performer. I look forward to finding out what she does next!

Happy Birthday Kristin!

Read More

Happy Birthday Elizabeth McGovern

We all know and love her in the role of the inimitable Countess Cora Grantham, doling out advice to her stubborn husband and feisty daughters, while artfully dodging the barbs thrown her way by her deliciously spiteful mother-in-law.

Did you know she's also a musician? She is considering taking some time off from acting to tour with her band, Sadie and the Hotheads.

Not too shabby!

Happy Birthday Elizabeth McGovern!

Read More

Happy Birthday Ginger Rogers

Ginger Rogers would have been a graceful and glamourous 101 years old today.

My mother told me I was dancing before I was born. She could feel my toes tapping wildly inside her for months.

The only way to enjoy anything in this life is to earn it first.

While looking for a great video of her with Fred Astair, I came across this great video of her dancing the salsa at the age of 92. Amazing!

Wow! That's incredible! What an artist! What a class act!

Read More

Happy Birthday Della Reese!

When I saw that today is Della Reese's birthday, I thought I'd post a quick clip of her in one of the many TV shows she's appeared in over the years, or maybe a song. But reading her biography, I was surprised to learn how truly amazing this woman is!

I grew up in the 70s and 80s, and felt like Della Reese was just one of those actors you see everywhere, but don't really know very much about. She was on game shows, and had guest appearances on shows like Welcome Back Kotter and Chico and the Man. She was someone my parents grew up with, and who was using her celebrity to continue working.

Reading her biography, I was impressed to learn that she had been a gospel singer in Detroit, and had been discovered by Mahalia Jackson! I can't say that I've ever listened to her songs before today. I'm sure I heard them, but it didn't really register. But, wow! What a voice!

Seriously! What a great performer!

Happy 80th Birthday, Della Reese!

Read More

Carole King

 
Today is Carole King's birthday. I think most people know her for her Tapestry album, which was ground-breaking and all that.

 But my most favorite Carole King album is Really Rosie, her collaborative effort with Maurice Sendak.

Strangely, I don't believe I'd ever seen it when it was broadcast in the mid-70s, but instead only discovered it in the early-90s when I was working with children at a Kansas women's shelter and was looking for something fun to play for them.

She's also quite well known for her songwriting repertoire.

And probably her best known hit for Aretha Franklin:

 
I just want to say thank you to Carole King for all the wonderful music over the years.

Read More