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Artist
Viola McCoy
12+ albums
bluesfemale vocalistsschellack-schatzladies blues
about
Viola McCoy (ca. 1900 – ca. 1956) was an African-American blues singer who performed in the classic female blues style during a career that lasted from the early 1920s to the late 1930s. Her birth name may have been Amanda Brown (a name under which she sometimes recorded).[1] She is believed to have been born in Mississippi,[2] although a press release of 1924 claims she was from Memphis, Tennessee.[2] In the early 1920s, she moved to New York City, where she worked in cabarets and appeared in revues at the Lincoln and Lafayette Theaters. She toured the Theater Owners Bookers Association vaudeville circuit, and made numerous recordings between 1923–1929 for various labels including Gennett, Vocalion, and Columbia Records. On her recordings from 1923 her most frequent accompanist was pianist Porter Grainger; later accompanists included Fletcher Henderson, Louis Hooper, and Bob Fuller, among others. A few of her recordings are enlivened by kazoo solos performed by McCoy. In 1927, she briefly owned and performed in Jack's Cabaret in New York City. By 1930 she owned and operated a nightclub in Saratoga, New York.[3] In 1938, she settled in Albany, New York, and was mostly inactive in music during the remainder of her life. Viola McCoy is thought to have died in Albany, New York, circa 1956.[3] Author Derrick Stewart-Baxter wrote of McCoy: "She belongs to the great vaudeville tradition, but in all she does there is a strong jazz strain ... Possessing a lovely contralto voic
top songs
albums
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Viola McCoy Vol. 3 (1926-1929) inc. Julia Moody
Viola McCoy Vol. 2 (1924-1926)
Viola McCoy Vol. 1 (1923)
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Introduction To The Blues Part One: The Ladies Of The Blues
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Rare 1920s Blues & Jazz (1923-1929)
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Viola McCoy Vol.2 (1924-1926)
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Really the Blues?: A Blues History (1893-1959), Vol. 1 (1893-1929)
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Evil Devil Woman Blues
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Gennett Jazz CD3
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Classic Blues, Jazz & Vaudeville Singers Vol. 2 (1920-1926)
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The Best Of The Blues Vol. 3
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Classic Blues, Jazz And Vaudeville Singers Vol. 4 (1921-1928)