Though Ma Rainey did not become the first blues singer to commit performances to disc, she possessed every qualification for that distinction. At a time when female vocalists commanded the spotlight in blues, she ranked as the most renowned figure of the era. The "Mother of the Blues" had already delivered the music onstage for more than twenty years when she entered the studio for Paramount in 1923. Once blues discs appeared, her stature grew further as she preserved such numbers as "See See Rider," "Bo-Weavil Blues," and "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." Her programs mixed pop material and minstrel pieces with blues, yet her delivery remained heavier and more assertive than the refined style later adopted by cabaret singers. Sessions placed her alongside jug ensembles, guitar pairs, and blues artists including Tampa Red and Blind Blake, as well as the customary jazz-band format of horns and piano that sometimes featured Louis Armstrong, Kid Ory, and Fletcher Henderson.
Born Gertrude Pridgett and raised in Columbus, Georgia, Ma Rainey turned professional while still in her teens, appearing with minstrel and medicine shows. After marrying William "Pa" Rainey in 1904 she adopted the name Ma Rainey. The couple billed themselves as "Rainey and Rainey, Assassinators of the Blues" and traveled the South with minstrel productions, circuses, and tent shows. Legend maintains that she gave vocal instruction to a young Bessie Smith. By the early 1920s she had become a featured attraction on the Theater Owners' Booking Association circuit.
She signed with Paramount Records in 1923. Although her recording activity spanned only six years and ended with the 1928 sessions, she completed more than one hundred songs, several of which, among them "C.C. Rider" and "Bo Weavil Blues," attained the status of blues standards. The dates drew participation from leading blues and jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson, Coleman Hawkins, Buster Bailey, and Lovie Austin.
Her discs and live appearances found particular favor with Black listeners, especially across the South. After attaining peak popularity in the late 1920s, her career receded by the early 1930s once audiences turned away from female blues singing. She withdrew from the stage in 1933 and returned to live in Columbus. Rainey died of a heart attack in 1939. She left an extensive body of recordings that continued to inspire successive generations of blues, country, and rock & roll artists. The Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame inducted her in 1983; seven years later she entered the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
