Katie Webster (January 11, 1936 – September 5, 1999), born Kathryn Jewel Thorne, was an American

boogie-woogie Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, developed in African-American communities since 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually extended from pian ...

pianist.

Career

Webster was initially best known as a

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

behind

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

musicians on the Excello and Goldband record labels, such as

Lightnin' Slim Otis Verries Hicks, known as Lightnin' Slim (March 13, 1913 – July 27, 1974), was an American blues musician who played Louisiana blues and swamp blues for Excello Records. The blues critic ED Denson ranked him as one of the five great bl ...

and

Lonesome Sundown Cornelius Green III (December 12, 1928 – April 23, 1995), known professionally as Lonesome Sundown, was an American blues musician, best known for his swamp blues recordings for Excello Records in the 1950s and early 1960s. Early life Green ...

. She also played piano with

Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...

in the 1960s, but after his death went into semi-retirement. In the 1980s she was repeatedly booked for European tours and recorded albums for the German record label, Ornament Records, with

Gary Wiggins Gary Wiggins (20 November 1952 – 25 January 2008) was an Australian professional cyclist, who specialised in six-day racing. His son is the British cyclist, five-time Olympic champion and 2012 Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins. Early li ...

and Chris Rannenberg - ''The International Blues Duo''. She cut ''You Know That's Right'' with the band Hot Links, and the album that established her in the United States; ''The Swamp Boogie Queen'' with guest spots by

Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Lynn Raitt (; born November 8, 1949) is an American blues singer and guitarist. In 1971, Raitt released her self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed roots-influenced albums that incorporated ...

and

Robert Cray Robert William Cray (born August 1, 1953) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He has led his own band and won five Grammy Awards. Early life Robert Cray was born on August 1, 1953, in Columbus, Georgia, while his father was stationed at ...

. '' Two-Fisted Mama!'' was released in 1989. She performed at both the

San Francisco Blues Festival The San Francisco Blues Festival was active from 1973 until 2008, and was located in San Francisco, California. It was the one of the longest running blues festival in the United States. History Tom Mazzolini, the event's producer, founded the ...

and

Long Beach Blues Festival The Long Beach Blues Festival, in Long Beach, California, United States, was established in full in 1980, and was one of the largest blues festivals and was the second oldest on the West coast of the United States, West Coast (first being the San ...

. Webster suffered a stroke in 1993 while touring Greece but returned to performing the following year. She died from heart failure in

League City, Texas League City is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, in Galveston County, within the metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 112,129. The city of League City has a small portion north of Clear Creek within Harris C ...

, in September 1999.

References

External links

*
Biography at Alligator.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Webster, Katie 1936 births 1999 deaths American blues singers American blues pianists American blues drummers Boogie-woogie pianists Musicians from Houston Blues musicians from New Orleans Swamp blues musicians Louisiana blues musicians 20th-century American women pianists 20th-century American pianists Singers from Louisiana 20th-century American women singers Singers from Texas Alligator Records artists 20th-century American singers

Career

See also

References

External links