IDA COX

Ida Cox (February 25, 1896 – November 10, 1967)  was an African American singer and vaudeville performer, best known for her blues performances and recordings. She was billed as "The Uncrowned Queen of the Blues". Cox was born in February, 1896 as Ida Prather in Toccoa, Habersham County, Georgia, United States (Toccoa was in Habersham County, not yet Stephens County at the time), the daughter of Lamax and Susie (Knight) Prather, and grew up in Cedartown, Georgia, singing in the local African Methodist Church choir. She left home to tour with traveling minstrel shows, often appearing in blackface into the 1910s; she married fellow minstrel performer Adler Cox. By 1920, she was appearing as a headline act at the 81 Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia; another headliner at that time was Jelly Roll Morton.  After the success of Mamie Smith's pioneering 1920 recording of "Crazy Blues", record labels realized there was a read more...