Who is Linda Martell who is featured on Beyonce’s new album “Cowboy Carter”?
Let’s find out some trivia and facts about the singer and songwriter.
- Linda Martell was born June 4, 1941
- Her birth name was Thelma Bynem
- She is an American singer
- She became the first commercially successful black female artist in the country music field
- She was the first to play the Grand Ole Opry
- Martell was one of the first African-American country performers
- Martell helped influence the careers of future Nashville artists of color
- Born and raised in South Carolina
- Martell listened to country, gospel and R&B music
- In her teens, she formed a singing trio with her family titled Linda Martell and the Anglos
- During the 1960s, the group recorded a handful of R&B singles and sang alongside other black performers
- However, the group had little success and soon parted ways
- Performing as a solo act, Martell was discovered singing country music on an air force base
- This led to an introduction to producer Shelby Singleton
- Singleton signed her to his Nashville label in 1969
- The same year, the label released her country cover of “Color Him Father”
- The song became a top 10 single on the Billboard charts
- Her debut album followed in 1970
- Martell made several appearances on country music television programs
- She released two more singles with Plantation
- She also made her first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry during this time
- She later performed there 12 times
- Following a series of business conflicts with her manager (Duke Raymer) and producer, Martell left her recording contract
- She then retired from the country music industry in 1974 following a lack of success
- Over the next several decades, she lived in various states and continued performing music
- To make a living, she worked in public education and returned to South Carolina in the 1990s
- Martell’s musical artistry combined elements of country, gospel, and R&B music
- Writers at Ebony magazine characterized her voice as having “gutsy, emotional soul”, while also having a “background that is rich in gospel and rhythm and blues”
- Martell herself drew similar connections when discussing the way she approached recording “Color Him Father” in the studio
- Writer David Browne commented that she delivered the song in a performance that was “a little bit country and a little bit R&B”
- When discussing her country style, Martell explained the storytelling aspect of the genre: “Country music tells a story…When you choose a song and you can feel it, that’s what made me feel great about what I was singing. I did a lot of country songs, and I loved every one of them. Because they just tell a story”
- Katie Moulton of the Oxford American also highlighted Martell’s country intonation in an article
- Moulton also compared her musical delivery to that of torch singers like Dusty Springfield and Dinah Washington
- Martell was among country music’s first black artists to have commercial success
- Her career in country music helped inspire careers of other black artists in the industry, including Kane Brown and Mickey Guyton
- In 2020, Guyton recalled searching on the internet for “black women country singers” and was surprised to find Martell’s music
- “I didn’t even know she existed…I felt really bad when I discovered that I didn’t know,” she recounted
- Brown reflected similarly: “Color was a thing back then. It’s still a thing today, but it was worse back then. She was so brave”
- Fellow black country artist Rissi Palmer commented to NPR that by creating her 2020 podcast she was “paying homage to the foundation on which my house is built, and that is Linda Martell”
- Martell was honored with the Equal Play Award at the 2021 CMT Music Awards
- It was given to recognize her work as a female black performer in country music
- A tribute during the broadcast was given by Darius Rucker, Carrie Underwood, Rissi Palmer, Rhiannon Giddens, Jennifer Nettles and Mickey Guyton
- Martell has been married twice
- At age 19, she first wed drummer Clark Thompson
- The couple had three children
- In 1966, the pair separated and she later remarried business owner, Ted Jacobs
- Jacobs also brought one child from his first marriage and the family lived in Nashville while Martell was signed to Plantation Records
- She discussed her domestic life with Ebony magazine in 1970, explaining the challenges associated with being a traveling performer while also being a wife and mother
- “I’m used to spending time with my family,” she recalled
- After leaving the country industry, Jacobs and Martell separated
- Jacobs’ business partner and Martell then started a romantic relationship
- Together, the couple traveled and lived in several states before Martell returned to South Carolina
- In 2004, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent radiation treatment
- Making a full recovery, she later moved in with one of her children in South Carolina
- She has only one album to her credit due to the difficulties of being a Black woman in the country music industry
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