Memphis Minnie McCoy, born June 3, 1897, was an American Blues musician.

Born Lizzie Douglas in Algiers, Louisiana, she was one of the most influential and pioneering female blues musicians and guitarists of all time. Minnie recorded for forty years, virtually unheard of for any woman in show business at the time, and possibly unique among female blues artists. She was married three times, and each husband was a musician: Joe McCoy (a.k.a. "Kansas Joe"), Casey Bill Weldon, and Ernest Lawlers (a.k.a. "Little Son Joe").

After learning to play guitar and banjo as a child, at the age of thirteen she ran away from home to Memphis, Tennessee. Soon afterwards she joined the circus.

She combined her Louisiana-country roots with Memphis-blues to produce her unique country-blues sound. Her recording debut came with Kansas Joe, and Columbia Records, in 1929, and their song "Bumble Bee" was a hit.

In the 1930s she moved to Chicago with Joe. She and McCoy broke up in 1935 and by 1939 she was with Little Son Joe. In the 1940s she formed a touring Vaudeville company. From the 1950s on, poor health forced her to spend the rest of her life in nursing homes in Memphis where she passed away in August 6, 1973.

In 1980, Memphis Minnie was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame.

Songs

"When The Levee Breaks", a 1929 Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe song, was later covered by Led Zeppelin and released in 1971 on (Zeppelin's fourth album).

Other songs by Memphis Minnie include: "Bumble Bee", "Hoodoo Lady" and "I Want Something For You"

Wikipedia