Jessie Mae Robinson (née Booker, October 1, 1918 – October 26, 1966) was an American musician and

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

, whose compositions included many R&B and pop hits of the 1940s and 1950s, including "

Black Night "Black Night" is a song by British hard rock band Deep Purple, first released as a single in June 1970 and later included on the 25th Anniversary version of their 1970 album, ''Deep Purple in Rock''. It became a hit following its release, pe ...

", "

I Went To Your Wedding "I Went to Your Wedding" is a popular song written and composed by Jessie Mae Robinson and published in 1952. Background The song's melody is similar to the old Russian song "Po Donu gulyaet kazak molodoi" ("Young Cossack went near the Don"). The ...

", and "

Let's Have a Party "Let's Have a Party" is a 1957 song written by Jessie Mae Robinson and recorded by Elvis Presley for the movie '' Loving You''. It was released as a single in the United Kingdom under the title "Party" and peaked at #2 in the UK Singles Chart. W ...

Biography

Jessie Mae Booker was born in

Call, Texas Call is an unincorporated community in central Newton County, Texas, United States. It lies along State Highway 87 south of the city of Newton, the county seat of Newton County. Its elevation is 95 feet (29 m), and it is located at ...

, but was raised in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

where she started writing songs in her teens, and met and married Leonard Robinson. After a few years she began pitching her songs to performers and music publishers. Her first song to be recorded was "Mellow Man Blues" by

Dinah Washington Dinah Washington (born Ruth Lee Jones; August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was an American singer and pianist, who has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the 1950s songs". Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performe ...

in 1945. She found commercial success with

Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson (born Edward L. Vinson Jr.; December 18, 1917 – July 2, 1988) was an American jump blues, jazz, bebop and R&B alto saxophonist and blues shouter. He was nicknamed Cleanhead after an incident in which his hair was ...

's "Cleanhead Blues" in 1946 and then "

Old Maid Boogie "Old Maid Boogie" is a 1947 song by Eddie Vinson Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson (born Edward L. Vinson Jr.; December 18, 1917 – July 2, 1988) was an American jump blues, jazz, bebop and R&B alto saxophonist and blues shouter. He was nicknamed ...

", an

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

number one in 1947. Songs written by Jessie Mae Robinson
''MusicVf.com''. Retrieved 5 November 2016 Among the R&B chart hits written by Robinson over the following few years were "In the Middle of the Night", "Roomin' House Boogie", and "Tears, Tears, Tears", all hits for

Amos Milburn Joseph Amos Milburn (April 1, 1927 – January 3, 1980) was an American rhythm-and-blues singer and pianist, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. He was born in Houston, Texas, and died there 52 years later. One commentator noted, "Milburn excel ...

; "Sneakin' Around", by

Rudy Render Rudolph Valentino Render (July 1, 1926 – September 11, 2014)Leonard Kniffel, "My Interview with Musician, Teacher Rudy Render", ''PolishSon.com'', December 3, 2014 Retrieved 5 November 2016 After leaving the US Army, he had a small cameo app ...

; " Blue Light Boogie" recorded by

Louis Jordan Louis Thomas Jordan (July 8, 1908 – February 4, 1975) was an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and bandleader who was popular from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as " the King of the Jukebox", he earned his high ...

in 1950; and Charles Brown's number one hit in 1951, "

" and its follow-up "Seven Long Days". In 1952, Damita Jo recorded Robinson's song "

", which was then covered more successfully by both white pop singer

Patti Page Clara Ann Fowler (November 8, 1927 – January 1, 2013), known professionally as Patti Page, was an American singer and actress. Primarily known for pop and country music, she was the top-charting female vocalist and best-selling female ar ...

, whose version went to number one on the

pop chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...

, and

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

star

Hank Snow Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow (May 9, 1914 – December 20, 1999) was a Canadian-American country music artist. Most popular in the 1950s, he had a career that spanned more than 50 years, he recorded 140 albums and charted more than 85 singles on t ...

. The song's success allowed Robinson to become "one of the few black songwriters to break the colour barrier", Biography

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

. Retrieved 5 November 2016 and the first female African-American member of

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

. She wrote further pop hits for

Jo Stafford Jo Elizabeth Stafford (November 12, 1917July 16, 2008) was an American traditional pop music singer, whose career spanned five decades from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. Admired for the purity of her voice, she originally underwent classi ...

Keep It a Secret "Keep It a Secret" is a popular song written by Jessie Mae Robinson and published in 1952. Jo Stafford version The best-selling recording of the song was made by Jo Stafford with Paul Weston and His Orchestra in 1952. It was released by Columb ...

", 1952; also recorded by Hank Snow) and

Frankie Laine Frankie Laine (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio; March 30, 1913 – February 6, 2007) was an American Singing, singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned nearly 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to hi ...

("I'm Just A Poor Bachelor", 1953), as well as "

", first recorded by

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

in 1957 and later by

Wanda Jackson Wanda LaVonne Jackson (born October 20, 1937) is an American singer and songwriter. Since the 1950s, she has recorded and released music in the genres of rock, country and gospel. She was among the first women to have a career in rock and roll, ...

. One of her last successes was "The Other Woman", a chart hit for

Sarah Vaughan Sarah Lois Vaughan (March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer. Nicknamed "Sassy" and "Jazz royalty, The Divine One", she won two Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, and was nominated for a total of nine ...

in 1958 and later recorded by

Nina Simone Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), known professionally as Nina Simone (), was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, ...

and (on her 2014 album '' Ultraviolence'')

Lana Del Rey Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1985), known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Her music is noted for its cinematic quality and exploration of tragic romance, glamour, and melancholia, with frequent ...

. After her songwriting career ended, Robinson attempted to start small record labels in the 1960s, but with little success. She died at home in Los Angeles after a short illness in 1966, aged 48.

References

External links

* Allmusic's list of Robinson's compositions {{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Jessie Mae 1918 births 1966 deaths People from Newton County, Texas Songwriters from Texas African-American songwriters 20th-century American musicians American women songwriters 20th-century American women musicians Songwriters from California Musicians from Los Angeles African-American women musicians 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American musicians