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.
See also
*
List of swamp blues musicians
*
List of Louisiana blues musicians
Louisiana blues is a genre of blues music that developed in the period after World War II in the state of Louisiana. It is generally divided into two major subgenres, with the jazz-influenced New Orleans blues based on the musical traditions of tha ...
*
New Orleans rhythm and blues
New Orleans rhythm and blues is a style of rhythm and blues that originated in New Orleans. It was a direct precursor to rock and roll and strongly influenced ska. Instrumentation typically includes drums, bass, piano, horns, electric guitar, and ...
*
Music of Louisiana
The music of Louisiana can be divided into three general regions: rural south Louisiana, home to Creole Zydeco and Old French (now known as cajun music), New Orleans, and north Louisiana. The region in and around Greater New Orleans has a unique ...
*
Swamp blues
Swamp blues is a type of Louisiana blues that developed in the Black communities of Southwest Louisiana in the 1950s.Malone, Evelyn Levingston, "Swamp Blues: Race And Vinyl From Southwest Louisiana" (2016). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertatio ...
*
List of New Orleans blues musicians
*
Louisiana blues
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