#norma jean wofford

[thechanelmuse]

Black American Music Month

• ELIZABETH “LIBBA” COTTEN - She was a maid at 9, wrote a hit song at 11 — and won a Grammy at 93. Not to mention she was a self-taught left-handed guitarist who played a guitar strung for a right-handed player, but played it upside down. This position meant that she would play the bass lines with her fingers and the melody with her thumb.

• SISTER ROSETTA THARPE- The “Godmother of Rock & Roll.” She helped shape modern popular music, was one of the few Black female guitarists to ever find commercial success and the first artist to blend gospel with the secular.

• ODETTA HOLMES - Known as “The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement.” In 1963, she sang for the masses on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at the March on Washington. Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals.

• PEGGY JONES - Nicknamed “Lady Bo” played rhythm guitar in Bo Diddley's band in the late 1950s and early 1960s, becoming one of the first (perhaps the first) female rock guitarists in a highly visible rock band. Sometimes called the “Queen Mother of Guitar.”

• LIZZIE “MEMPHIS MINNIE” DOUGLAS - Known as the “Queen of the Blues,” was a singer, guitarist, and songwriter. Her title stems from her legacy of successfully recording music across four decades as well as being the lone female voice in a male dominated blues scene.

• NORMA JEAN WOFFORD - Nicknamed “The Duchess” by Bo Diddley, she was the second female guitarist in Diddley's backing band.

• ALGIA MAE HINTON - She was widely recognized as a master picker and buckdancer in the Piedmont styles. She would often play her guitar behind her head while buck dancing.

• ETTA BAKER - She was a Piedmont blues/folk guitarist and singer who began playing the guitar at age 3. Taught by her father, long-time Piedmont player Boone Reid, Etta played 6-string and 12-string acoustic guitar, and 5-string banjo. She was a master of the blues guitar style that became popular in the southern piedmont after the turn of the century.

• JESSIE MAE HEMPHILL - A legend of hill country blues guitar. She grew up in a lineage of familial fife-and-drums bands from northern Mississippi, rose to popularity in the mid-1980s and had a fruitful career during which she performed around the globe, traveling mostly on her own. She played in open tunings and, having started as a drummer, had a percussive guitar style that included slapping and banging the instrument. She would also tie a tambourine around her calf, which, together with her strumming-and-drumming guitar work, gave her performance the sound of a one-woman-band.

• BEVERLY “GUITAR” WATKINS - One part soul singer, one part rockin' roadhouse mama, and one part gifted songwriter. She's been chronically under-recorded for a woman with her résumé, performing with the likes of James Brown, Ray Charles and Otis Redding. She didn’t record her first album until she was 60. Her blistering licks on a 1962 red Fender Mustang earned her the well-deserved nickname “Guitar.” She gon’ put on a show:

One more for good measure:

• WILLIE MAE “BIG MAMA” THORNTON - Also referred to as “The Godmother of Rock & Roll.” She was a blues singer, songwriter, self-taught drummer, and harmonica player. She was the first to record "Hound Dog", in 1952, which became her biggest hit, staying seven weeks at number one on the Billboard R&B chart in 1953 and selling almost two million copies. She also helped to shape the sound and style of “Texas-blues,” an evolving blues sub-genre known to incorporate swing and big band elements.

#black american music month #elizabeth cotten #elizabeth libba cotten #sister rosetta tharpe #odetta holmes #peggy jones #memphis minnie #norma jean wofford #algia mae hinton #etta baker #jessie mae hemphill #beverly guitar watkins #big mama thornton #black american musicians

[classichollywoodblogger]

#marilyn monroe #norma jean wofford

[randomberlinchick]

Watch "BO DIDDLEY 1965" on YouTube

Norma Jean Wofford on that guitar has me reconsidering my retirement plan. 😂

#norma jean wofford #bo diddley #rock n roll #black women playing guitar #music i love #Youtube

[lisamarie-vee]

#bo diddley #the duchess #norma-jean wofford #jerome green #b&w #1960s #rock and roll hall of fame

[sbrown82]

Now I see why the Rolling Stones were obsessed. Bo Diddley and his female-led band were dope af! 🙌🏿

#bo diddley #the big tnt show #hey! bo diddley #band #music #black music #r&b #rock n roll #musicians #black musicians #black culture #african american #black women #the rolling stones #1960s #1965 #guitarist #female musicians #norma-jean wofford #the duchess #gloria jolivet #peggy jones #lady bo #black band #vintage #retro #video #sbrown82

[casino-bunker]

#Norma-Jean Wofford

[dearyallfrommatt]

"Hey, Bo Diddley/Bo Diddley”

 Yes, he had several songs with his name in them. Bo Diddley was as much the character in his songs as the singer of him. I forget where this is filmed, but Bo’s backed by his girl singers, the Bo-Ettes. That one on Bo’s far left is Norma-Jean Wofford, better known as the Duchess. Along with maracas master Jerome Green (who’s not in this for whatever reason), she was Bo’s musical sidekick throughout the ‘60s.

 During the ‘50s, Bo had Peggy Jones in his band as second guitarist. Known as Lady Bo, Jones had a strong career as a songwriter and bandleader while touring and recording with Bo. She decided to strike out fully on her own in 1961. Fans kept asking for her, so he taught Norma-Jean how to play guitar for him and called her Duchess. He told folks she was his half-sister to keep guys from hitting on her.

 She left the band and music to have a family in 1966. Losing touch, her and Bo were able to reconnected before she died in 2005. Bo himself left this world in 2008.

#youtube #Bo Diddley #Norma-Jean Wofford #rock & roll #it's only rock & roll

[rockandrollpicsandthings]

Bo Diddley and his lead guitarist «The Duchess» aka Norma Jean Wofford ca. 1958

[ttexed]

Bo Diddley & band

The Duchess (Norma-Jean Wofford) without her wig-hat…

Photo courtesy of Dave Evad & Barry Soltz. https://instagram.com/p/CuDB22Yug3D/

[chronivore]

Norma-Jean Wofford - The Duchess - was an American guitarist who played with Bo Diddley and his band from 1962 to 1966.

#badass

[scentedkryptoniteballoon]

#peggy jones

[schibborasso]

G6  G  G6  G  G6  G  G6  G  G6 Bo Diddley’s guitarist, Norma-Jean Wofford aka The Duchess

#music #electric guitar #chords

[rockmusicassoc]

#GreatWomenofRock Norma-Jean Wofford, better known as The Dutchess, Bo Diddley’s second female rhythm guitarist and sidekick. Wofford toured and recorded as an integral part of Bo’s band from 1962-66. #TheDutchess #NormaJeanWofford #RockHonorRoll 3/15

#GreatWomenofRock Norma-Jean Wofford, better known as The Dutchess, Bo Diddley’s second female rhythm guitarist and sidekick. Wofford toured and recorded as an integral part of Bo’s band from 1962-66. #TheDutchess #NormaJeanWofford #RockHonorRoll 3/19

[bushdog]

#peggy jones

[sbrown82]

Black Women of Rock & Roll in the 60s and 70s:

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Marsha Hunt

The Ronettes

Betty Davis

Norma-Jean Wofford a.k.a “The Duchess”

Poly Styrene

Merry Clayton

Tina Turner

#black women #black girls #black girls rock #music #black music #rock & roll #rock music #sister rosetta tharpe #marsha hunt #the ronettes #betty davis #the duchess #poly styrene #x ray spex #merry clayton #tina turner #singer #guitarist #1960s #1970s #60s #70s #black culture #black beauty #black history #music history #vintage #retro #gifs #sbrown82

[aflashbak]

#peggy jones