Big Maybelle / Mabel Smith / Mamie Webster

Cincinnati/Cleveland, late 1940s-late 1960s

Mabel Smith had a slow start to her career, with a few releases on King records and then singing in Tiny Bradshaw's band. In 1952 she was recordng for Okeh and as Big Maybelle, released a string of R&B hits that put her at the top of woman R&B artists. She switched to Savoy records and had more success, until health issues and changing tastes left her behind. She had one album credited as Mamie Webster.

She had a bit of a renaissance in the mid 1960s, recording in a comteporary hard soul style, capping with the national chart hit remake of "96 Tears". A couple follow up records had some decent sales.

Big Maybelle was not an Ohio native but she lived in Cincinnati during her peak R&B career. Her mother remarried and moved to Cleveland (sometime in the late 1950s?) so she would visit Cleveland often. Her permanent home, if she had one, is not known, it's possible she was still living in Cincinnati.

She moved to Cleveland in 1970 but by that time she was too ill to perform, She passed away on  April 23, 1972.

Her mother's name, after remarrying, was Alice Shoulders. Maybelle's sister, Edna Shaw, lived with Alice at the time of her death in March 1961. The address given looks like it was a 2 story apartment/small business building, now an empty lot on Kinsman Ave.

Discography:
TBD