Ann Cook (? – September 29, 1962) was an American blues and

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

singer. Born and raised in rural Louisiana, Cook moved to

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

as a teenager. She served as a prostitute and singer in the Storyville neighborhood, living in an area known as "The Battlefield". She worked out of Willie Piazza's brothel during the later years of Storyville's existence, and after the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and Storyville's dismantling, Cook moved to

Rampart Street Rampart Street (french: rue du Rempart) is a historic avenue located in New Orleans, Louisiana. The section of Rampart Street downriver from Canal Street is designated as North Rampart Street, which forms the inland or northern border of the Fr ...

. During this time she worked on two of her surviving recordings, "Mama Cookie Blues" and "He’s the Sweetest Black Man in Town", which were originally published by Victor Records in 1927. At the time, her voice was considered so well-liked that it could "stop the traffic on Rampart Street". In the late 1940s and 1950s, Cook left the blues and began to take up gospel music, working with

Wooden Joe Nicholas Wooden Joe Nicholas (September 23, 1883 – November 17, 1957) was an American jazz trumpeter and cornetist, active on the early New Orleans jazz scene. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Nicholas began playing professionall ...

and his band on the single ''The Lord Will Make a Way'', released in 1949. Blues historian

Bill Russell William Felton Russell (February 12, 1934 – July 31, 2022) was an American professional basketball player who played as a center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956 to 1969. A five-time NBA Most Va ...

had attempted to have Cook record more blues music during this time due to a revival of

New Orleans blues New Orleans blues is a subgenre of blues that developed in and around the city of New Orleans, influenced by jazz and Caribbean music. It is dominated by piano and saxophone, but also produced guitar bluesmen. Characteristics As a style, New ...

. She refused to return to blues music and continued with gospel music until her death in 1962.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Ann Year of birth unknown 1962 deaths