Ada Brown (May 1, 1890, - March 31, 1950) was an American blues singer. She is best known for her recordings of "Ill Natural Blues", "Break O' Day Blues", and "Evil Mama Blues. Ada Scott Brown was born and raised in Kansas City, Kansas, United States; her cousin James Scott was a ragtime composer and pianist. Her early career was spent primarily on stage in musical theater and vaudeville. She recorded with Bennie Moten in 1926; the side "Evil Mama Blues" is possibly the earliest recording of Kan...
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Ada Brown (May 1, 1890, - March 31, 1950) was an American blues singer. She is best known for her recordings of "Ill Natural Blues", "Break O' Day Blues", and "Evil Mama Blues. Ada Scott Brown was born and raised in Kansas City, Kansas, United States; her cousin James Scott was a ragtime composer and pianist. Her early career was spent primarily on stage in musical theater and vaudeville. She recorded with Bennie Moten in 1926; the side "Evil Mama Blues" is possibly the earliest recording of Kansas City jazz. Aside from her time with Moten, she did several tours alongside bandleaders such as George E. Lee. Brown was a founding member of the Negro Actors Guild of America in 1936, and worked at the London Palladium and in Broadway in the late 1930s. She sang with Fats Waller in the film Stormy Weather in 1943, and followed it with appearances in Harlem to Hollywood, accompanied by Harry Swannagan. The ASV/Living Era compilation album, Ladies Sing the Blues included two "raunchy" tracks from Brown ("Break O'Day Blues" and "Evil Mama Blues.") She died of kidney disease in March 1950 in Kansas City, at the age of 59.
