Mamie Smith records "Crazy Blues"
Okeh records the vaudeville singer Mamie Smith in New York performing "Crazy Blues", written by the Black songwriter Perry Bradford — the first vocal blues recording by an African American artist. Its commercial success, much of it with Black purchasers the industry had not counted as a market, prompted companies to create dedicated catalogue series and to send field units south. Almost everything later generations know about early blues survives because this record sold.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- Race records · phenomenon · United States · not located
- Blues · cultural practice · United States · not located
- New York City · city · United States
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
"Crazy Blues" — Mamie Smith (1920), National Recording Registry essay
Mamie Smith recorded "Crazy Blues", written by Perry Bradford, for Okeh in New York on 10 August 1920; it was the first vocal blues recording by an African American artist, sold strongly to Black purchasers, and prompted the record industry's race-records series. V55 verification basis: retrieved in search summary alongside encyclopaedic accounts; the Registry essay PDF was not opened, and the widely repeated million-copy sales figure is not adopted here.
National Recording Preservation Board, Library of Congress · added to the Registry 2005 · Partly verified
loc.gov, National Recording Preservation Board essay on "Crazy Blues"
Recorded on Race records
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