Marion Harris - Beale St Blues-1921

Marion Harris was born in 1896 in Indiana. At the time she recorded her early jazz song "When I Hear That Jazz Band Play" in 1917, it was probably the first jazz music recorded by a female artist. With her short bobbed blond hair and jazz recordings, she was a typical flapper girl of her era. Harris started recording with the Victor Talking Machine Co. in 1916 but jumped to Columbia in 1920 when Victor repeatedly refused to let her record W C Handy's St. Louis Blues which she made for Columbia in April 1920.

Handy said of Marion Harris "Miss Harris hac used our numbers in vaudeville for a long time and she sang blues so well that people thought the singer was colored". Throughout her career, Harris favored blues and jazz of the African American composers.

She appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies in the early 20s and on Broadway in the latter 20s. In '29, she mae her motion picture debut in "Devil May Care" with Raymond Navarro, an early sound movie. The early 30s found her performing in London and she moved there around 1935. In the late 30s she retired from showbiz and married English theatrical agent Leonard Urry. When her London home was firebombed by the Nazis in WWII, her husband sent her to New York for safety. Ironically, she died in a New York fire in 1944 after falling asleep with a lit cigarette.
Thanks to Jazzage20s for some of the pics in this vid.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Marion
• Harris
• jazz
• Beale
• Street
• Blues
• 1920s
• 78s

[Corrie121]

Another great addition to my Marion Harris "Playlist".

Thank you for sharing.

[Auggie56]

It matters not a whit what race she was, she's a great singer.

[ccaammiiittoo1]

@bellehaup Wiki gives the great one's ethnicity as German American! But whatever works for you!!

[ccaammiiittoo1]

@bellehaup Very interesting. But your post seems to run in contradiction to the bio provided by Wiki that states she was caucasian (not that that makes a difference, of course. Beauty is beauty). As for Ruth, I'm at a loss.

[ccaammiiittoo1]

@Urbino237 Thank you.  Will do.

[Urbino237]

@ccaammiiittoo1 Well said. Some people seem to be born with this ability; how fortunate for them and us! There are many such entertainers of course, but another to dial into on YT is DeFord Bailey. Watch his two [and all-too-brief] live performances at The Grand Ole Opry...

[bellehaup]

I think she was like Babe Ruth....she was black but was passing because she could. Love her singing regardless.

[louisa1832]

Pretty woman, fun melody, grim lyrics!

[ccaammiiittoo1]

She has a wonderful "ear." Listening to Harris is similar to listening to literature's Eudora Welty. She too had an "ear."

[dumowska]

great melody