Blues and soul music has been around for well over 2 centuries. However, female black blues singers did not appear until the 1920’s. There were many black female blues singers each bringing their own special style to the music world. Ida Cox was one of the many iconic women of her time. She brought with it a certain style of her very own.
Ida Prather began her singing career at a young age. First devoting her love of music to the Cedartown, Georgia church choir. In 1910, Ida found herself at the age of 14, signing in local theaters. She met her true love Adler Cox who also had a passion in the music world at this time.
At the age of 24, Ida Cox found her way to a theater in Atlanta, Georgia called the 81 theater. She performed in many shows at this particular theater. In 1923, Ida was offered the opportunity to record with Paramount Records. She was one of the first women of blues to do so. Through out the 1920’s, Ida continued to share her passion for music not only through her recordings but also through her work with the theater.
But, Ida had a special talent, she could write her own songs. Most of her songs dealt with issues that only black females faced. One of her most well known songs “Wild Women Don’t have the Blues” actually depicts this. The demand for “female race artists” like Ida continued to grow through the mid 1930’s.
Toward the end of the 1920’s Ida began managing her own troupe of performers known as: “Ida Cox and Her Raisn Cain Company”. They would tour all over the south performing their vaudeville acts.
In the 1930’s Ida continued performing and managing troupes, showing her flare for show business every step of the way, managing, recording, even performing with her troupes as well. Music was her life and she was going to share it with the world. But, in the mid 1930’s Ida Cox fell ill. It was said that she had a stroke, this stroke forced Ida to retire. However, in the early 1960’s Ida performed one last time by recording with well known greats such as; Roy Eldridge and Colman Hawkins. Sher termed this final recording as her “final statement”. In 1967, Ida passed away in Knoxville, Tennessee. Her grave can be found at Longview Cemetery.
References
- PBS.ORG- http://www.pbs.org/theblues/songsartists/songsbioalpha.html; paragraph 6 under the alphabetical listing. Copy right 2003
- Findagrave.com- http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7129165
- Wikipedia- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_Cox; Research on Ida Cox; Information modification December 2008.
