Nora Jean Bruso (born June 21, 1956) is an American

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and

electric blues Electric blues refers to any type of blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplifier, amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the ...

singer and songwriter. She has penned over 700 songs, and worked with

Carl Weathersby Carl Weathersby (born Carlton Weathersby; 24 February 1953, in Jackson, Mississippi) is an American electric blues vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter. He has worked with Albert King and Billy Branch, among others. He is now a solo artist. He was ...

and

Dave Specter Dave Specter (born May 21, 1963) is an American Chicago blues and jazz guitarist. Biography Hailing from Chicago's Northwest side, Specter began to learn to play the guitar at the age of 18. His teacher was Steve Freund, who taught Specter bet ...

. Fellow blues singer,

Koko Taylor Koko Taylor (born Cora Anna Walton, September 28, 1928 – June 3, 2009) was an American singer whose style encompassed Chicago blues, electric blues, rhythm and blues and soul blues. Sometimes called "The Queen of the Blues", she was known for ...

once commented, "Nora Jean sounds just like I did when I was her age. She is one of the new upcoming women that's singing the real blues. I know she is going to make it." Bruso was named one of the ten great women in Chicago blues by Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. She has been nominated various times for a

Blues Music Award The Blues Music Awards, formerly known as the W. C. Handy Awards (or "The Handys"), are awards presented by the Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization set up to foster blues heritage. The awards were originally named in honor of W. C. Handy, " ...

Life and career

Elnora Jean Wallace was born in

Greenwood Green wood is unseasoned wood. Greenwood or Green wood may also refer to: People * Greenwood (surname) Settlements Australia * Greenwood, Queensland, a locality in the Toowoomba Region * Greenwood, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth C ...

Leflore County Leflore County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2010 census, the population was 32,317. The county seat is Greenwood. The county is named for Choctaw leader Greenwood LeFlore, who signed a treaty to cede his peo ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, United States, to a musical family, the seventh of 16 children of a Mississippi

sharecropper Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...

. Bruso won the West Tallahatchie High School Talent Show for singing, and began to perform in other schools in her local area. In 1976, she relocated to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

when she was 19 years old, and began singing with a group called Scottie and the Oasis. In 1982, Scottie died but she continued performing with other ensembles and three years later joined

Jimmy Dawkins James Henry “Jimmy” Dawkins (October 24, 1936 – April 10, 2013) was an American Chicago blues and electric blues guitarist and singer. He is generally considered to have been a practitioner of the "West Side sound" of Chicago blues. Career ...

' band. Bruso recorded her debut single, "Untrue Lover" on Dawkins' own Leric label. In 1985, she contributed vocals on one track of Dawkin's ''Feel the Blues'' release, billed as Nora Jean Wallace. Dawkins band, including Bruso, appeared at the

Chicago Blues Festival The Chicago Blues Festival is an annual event held in June, that features three days of performances by top-tier blues musicians, both old favorites and the up-and-coming. It is hosted by the Chicago, Illinois, City of Chicago Department of Cu ...

in 1989. Bruso also participated on ''Kant Sheck Dees Bluze'' (1991), another Dawkins release, this time on Earwig Records. In 1992, she left the

music industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

to raise her two sons, but almost a decade later was tempted back into a recording studio following the promptings of Billy Flynn, another member of Dawkins' backing band. Bruso supplied four vocal tracks for ''Blues and Love'' (2002) and, the same year, appeared as a backing singer with Dawkins again at the Chicago Blues Festival. She met and married Mark Bruso in 2002. Later that year she recorded ''Nora Jean Bruso Sings the Blues'', which was released in 2003 by Red Hurricane Records. Bruso performed again at the 2003 Chicago Blues Festival, this time under her own name, and toured in Europe. In 2004, she was nominated for two W.C. Handy Awards (now known as Blues Music Awards), as 'Best New Artist' and 'Best Traditional Female Artist'. The same year, after having signed a recording contract with

Severn Records Severn Records is an American independent record label that concentrates on blues music. Its motto is "Roots Music for the 21st Century". History On July 11, 1997, a company named Echo Records was incorporated in Maryland by David Earl. By the t ...

, she released ''Going Back to Mississippi''. This was more of a commercial success reaching number five on ''

Living Blues ''Living Blues: The Magazine of the African American Blues Tradition'' is a bi-monthly magazine focused on blues music, and America's oldest blues periodical. The magazine was founded as a quarterly in Chicago in 1970 by Jim O'Neal and Amy van Sin ...

'' radio chart and number one on XM satellite radio. In June 2004, she returned and performed on the main stage at the Chicago Blues Festival with her own band. Her ensemble at that time included

(guitar), Bruce Beglin (bass) and Brian Lupo (guitar). These musicians, amongst others, played on ''Going Back to Mississippi''. Her live appearances continued and included the

King Biscuit Blues Festival The King Biscuit Blues Festival is an annual, multi-day blues festival, held in Helena, Arkansas, United States. History The name of the festival comes from ''King Biscuit Time'', which was the longest running radio show. Sonny Boy Williamson ...

Rawa Blues Festival Rawa Blues Festival (pronounced ''rava'') is the world's largest indoor blues festival. The festival was named after the Rawa River, which flows through the city of Katowice in Poland. The first edition was held in April 1981. Among the highlig ...

Notodden Blues Festival Notodden Blues Festival (NBF) is one of the largest blues music festivals in Europe and the largest in Scandinavia. The festival is held in Notodden, Norway, usually in early August. It has been running annually since 1988. The festival does not ...

(2005),

Briggs Farm Blues Festival Briggs Farm Blues Festival is an annual blues music festival that takes place in Nescopeck, Pennsylvania, in the Northeast Pennsylvania. since the summer of 1998. The festival is hosted every July on the farmland owned by the Briggs family. Brigg ...

(2008), Cape May Jazz Festival and Pocono Blues Festival. She appeared again at the Chicago Blues Festival in 2011. In 2011, the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' noted that her collaboration with Little Bobby for the latter's album, ''Good Blues'', "... helped push Nora Jean to her seventh Blues Music Award nomination for 'Best Traditional Female Blues Performer'." In June 2014, she appeared with

Lurrie Bell Lurrie Bell (born Lurrie C. Bell, December 13, 1958, Chicago, Illinois, United States) is an American blues guitarist and singer. His father was renowned blues harmonica player Carey Bell. Career Bell started playing guitar at the age of six ...

's Chicago Blues Band in Pyla-sur-Mer, France. In July 2015, she performed at the Kingston Mines club in Chicago. Bruso is currently based in

La Porte, Indiana La Porte (French for "The Door") is a city in LaPorte County, Indiana, United States, of which it is the county seat. Its population was estimated to be 21,341 in 2022. It is one of the two principal cities of the Michigan City-La Porte, India ...

. In 2020, she released her latest album, ''Blues Woman''.

Discography

Solo albums

References

External links

2015 interview with BrusoDiscography @ Discogs.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruso, Nora Jean 1956 births Living people 20th-century American singers American blues singers 20th-century African-American women singers People from Greenwood, Mississippi Songwriters from Mississippi Electric blues musicians Chicago blues musicians Songwriters from Illinois 20th-century American women singers 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singers African-American songwriters 21st-century African-American women singers