Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s distinctive singing and stylish lead guitar playing on this rollicking 1944 rendition of the Black spiritual “Strange Things Happening Every Day” make it one of the best examples of primal rock ’n’ roll. Credited as the first gospel single to cross over to the mainstream, Tharpe’s recording reached No. ‘Strange Things Happening Every Day’ (1944) by Sister Rosetta Tharpe ‘Strange Fruit’ (1939) by Billie Holidayīefore most of the best known protest singers of ’60s were even born, Billie Holiday risked her career as a rising jazz star to jump labels and record the most powerful protest song of them all, “Strange Fruit.” A devastating ballad about the lynching of Blacks in the South, Holiday’s rich, harrowing vocal made the song her biggest hit to date while offering listeners around the world a harsh snapshot of the horrors being perpetrated down in Dixie. Not long removed from her teenage days spent singing on the streets of Harlem, jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald shot to stardom in 1938 with her stunning performance of “A Tisket, A Tasket.” Based on an old nursery rhyme, Fitzgerald co-composed the song that went on to become a standard and put Fitzgerald on her way to being crowned the Queen of Jazz.
She progresses from sad to mad as she moans “you made me love you” before warning of purchasing “a pistol just as long as I am tall.” ‘A-Tisket, A-Tasket’ (1938) by Ella Fitzgerald Backed by her Georgia Jazz Band featuring such future legends as Fletcher Henderson on piano and Louis Armstrong on cornet, Rainey gives the song about love, sex and deceit a deep, emotional interpretation. Long before “See See Rider” became a folk-rock favorite covered by the likes of Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels, Elvis Presley and the Grateful Dead, “Mother of the Blues” Ma Rainey made the first, and best, recording of the song in 1924. Less than two years after the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment ensuring women the right to vote, Tennessee native Bessie Smith entered a New York City recording studio on a winter day in 1922 and recorded her debut single, an achingly beautiful rendition of the unrequited love ballad “Downhearted Blues.” It would go on to sell a couple million copies and launch Smith’s illustrious career as “Empress of the Blues.” ‘Downhearted Blues’ (1922) by Bessie Smith Each composition – just like each individual recording artist – stands on its own merits as one of the most important works from the past 100 years. Songs are presented in chronological order. These are essential pop, rock, jazz, blues and hip-hop recordings issued from the 1920s to 2020 by recording artists who each have had long, successful careers well worth a deeper examination.
In celebration of the myriad contributions they have made to popular music, we have compiled a list of 25 songs by Black women that have influenced the music world as well as popular culture in general.
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