Trudy Lynn (born August 9, 1947) is an American

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 ...

and

soul blues Soul blues is a style of blues music developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s that combines elements of soul music and urban contemporary music. Origin African American singers and musicians who grew up listening to the electric blues by ar ...

singer and songwriter, whose recorded work has been released on twelve studio albums, one live album, and four compilation albums. The

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 ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

, Alex Henderson, noted that "Lynn isn't one to hold back emotionally; like

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 ...

and

Etta James Jamesetta Hawkins (January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012), known professionally as Etta James, was an American singer who performed in various genres, including gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, rock and roll, and soul. Starting her career in 1954, sh ...

, she screams, shouts, testifies and gets her points across in a highly convincing way".

Biography

She was born Lee Audrey Nelms in the Fifth Ward, Houston,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, United States. Her professional singing career began in the mid-1960s, when she sang with the guitarist

Albert Collins Albert Gene Drewery, known as Albert Collins and the Ice Man (October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993),Skeely, Richard. "Albert Collins: Biography" Allmusic.com. was an American electric blues guitarist and singer with a distinctive guitar style. ...

and then later, Clarence Green. Use of her stage name of Trudy Lynn was in place when she performed with the Rhythmaires in the late 1960s. Her early work was in the

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

genre, and she once opened for

Ike & Tina Turner Ike & Tina Turner were an American musical duo consisting of husband and wife Ike Turner and Tina Turner. From 1960 to 1976, they performed live as the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, supported by Ike Turner's band the Kings of Rhythm and backing vocal ...

. In the 1970s, Lynn expanded her performing base from

clubs Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

in Houston, to regional work and then overseas. Lynn's recording career did not start until 1989, when

Ichiban Records Ichiban Records is an American independent record label, founded in 1985 by John Abbey and Nina Easton in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. History Wrap Records and Nastymix Records were some of its subsidiary labels. Urgent! Records and Mr. Henr ...

released the first of five albums she recorded for them. Her debut, ''Trudy Sings the Blues'', included her

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of " Ball 'n' Chain". It reached No. 76 in the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

R&B albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated J ...

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

. The following year, ''Come to Mama'' also peaked at No. 76 in the same chart. A mixture of southern soul and blues, her early albums were produced by Buzz Amato. Her 1999 release, ''U Don't Know What Time It Is'', issued by

Ruf Records Ruf Records is a German independent record label, which was founded in 1994 by Luther Allison’s manager, Thomas Ruf, to promote Allison's career. The motto of the blues label is "Where Blues Crosses Over". The company's office is located in ...

, was short of double entendres in the lyrics, which had been a trademark up to that time. The album included keyboards input from

Lucky Peterson Judge Kenneth Peterson (December 13, 1964 – May 17, 2020), known professionally as Lucky Peterson, was an American musician who played contemporary blues, fusing soul, R&B, gospel and rock and roll. He played guitar and keyboards Keyboard ma ...

, with

Bernard Allison Bernard Allison (born November 26, 1965) is an American blues guitarist, based out of Paris, France. Biography Bernard Allison was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States. His father, Luther Allison, was a Chicago blues musician. Allison moved ...

on guitar. Her live album, ''Blues Power: Trudy's Blues'' (2004), had guitar work by Carl Weathersby. One of her most recent outputs was ''I'm Still Here'', released in May 2006. It was recorded with the Calvin Owens Blues Orchestra. ''I'm Still Here'' was nominated 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, " ...

in 2007 in the 'Best Soul Blues Album' category. Lynn herself was nominated as 'Best Soul Blues Artist'. In 2014, Lynn was nominated for a Blues Music Award in the 'Koko Taylor Award (Traditional Blues Female)' category. Her album, ''Royal Oaks Blues Cafe'', reached number one in the ''

'' Top Blues Albums Chart in September 2014.

Festival work

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 ...

, one newspaper journalist described her as "enthralling", whilst in her home town at the Juneteenth Blues Festival, she was described as the 'Blues Artist of the Year.' Lynn appeared at the

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 ...

in both 1999 and 2009, and with

Little Milton James Milton Campbell Jr. (September 7, 1934 – August 4, 2005), better known as Little Milton, was an American blues singer and guitarist, best known for his number-one R&B single " We're Gonna Make It". His other hits include "Baby, I Love ...

at 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 ...

in 2001. In 2014, she performed at the Lucerne Blues Festival.

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilation albums

References

External links

Discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynn, Trudy 1947 births Living people American soul singers American blues singers American rhythm and blues singers American women singers Musicians from Houston Electric blues musicians Soul-blues musicians Songwriters from Texas Ruf Records artists Ichiban Records artists 21st-century American women