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Mamie Smith made music history on February 14, 1920, when she became the first black woman to make a phonograph record. She was also the African American to make a commercial recording of the blues. A vaudevillian who performed primarily in the north, Smith is reputed to have begun her travels with a white touring company at age 10. She married in 1912, and would marry twice more during her life. By the time she was thirty she had moved to New York and aligned with Perry Bradford, starring in his play Maid in Harlem in 1918.

In February, 1920 she recorded Perry Bradford's That Thing Called Love and the B-side, You Can't Keep a Good Man Down for Okeh records. Okeh executives refused to release the test recording, but the record leaked to record dealers and spread like wildfire. The popularity of That Thing Called Love proved that there existed a market in African American records; in August, Okeh agreed to allow Smith to record another record, Crazy Blues, with the B-side, It's Right Here for You (If You Don't Get It, 'Tain't No Fault of Mine). Crazy Blues smashed records for music sales, making it difficult for Okeh to press enough records to keep pace with demand. It is estimated that the record sold nearly a million copies in one year. Smith continued to record for Okeh throughout the 1920s, making twenty three more records during the decade. Although considered blues at the time, Mamie Smith's style is considered closer to jazz than blues, as she was accompanied by a small band with wind instruments. Still, she is considered one of the first blues women, and was believed by her contemporaries to be responsible for their opportunities. Alberta Hunter, co-writer of Bessie Smith's Down-Hearted Blues, remarked "There was Sara Martins, Ida Cox, Chippie Hill, Victoria Spivie, Trixie Smith and Clara Smith, and Mamie Smith, who made it possible for all of us with her recording of Crazy Blues, the first blues record. "Within two years record companies scrambled for a piece of this "new" market, and began to sell "race records" at the rate of more than five million copies annually. The records were targeted at an exclusively black market and were given special labels or recording numbers including Victor's Bluebird label, Columbia's 16000 series, Decca's 7000 and 8000 series, and Paramount's race record series.

By the mid-1920s, Smith commanded between $2,500 and $3,000 dollars per performance; by the end of the decade she had appeared in nine variety shows. While Smith's popularity ebbed in the early 1930s as other blues singers gained fame, her career blossomed again in the late 1930s. In 1936, she toured Europe and began to make films including Paradise in Harlem in 1939, Mystery in Swing in 1940, Murder on Lenox Avenue in 1941, Sunday Sinners also in 1941, and Because I Love You in 1943. Smith's place in history is widely celebrated; she is widely regarded as the woman who literally created a blues recording industry and a popular recording industry in black music. She is renowned for paving the way for blues legends including Bessie Smith. Ironically, her musical legacy has been ill-served by the music industry, which is marked by a dearth of re-issues of her music.