How does one get crowned the Queen of the Blues?

[summer96]

How does one get crowned the Queen of the Blues? Do they have to be prostitutes or something. Back in the day they said that it was prostitutes who were singing the blues.

[jobeterob]

for one, sing it like ya feel it

[summer96]

LOL I like that response LOL

[daviddesper]

Since I have heard about 23 different singers called that over the years, I think it is simple as someone saying it. Therefore I am not sure the title really "means" all that much.

[Kamasu_Jr]

Just who is this "queen of the blues?" As far as blues singing, former prostitutes go. I've learned it was pretty rough for secular singers back in the day who were singing the blues and not gospel. There used to be a stigma attached to people in show business and usually only tough customers chose to sing the blues- people who drank, cussed, smoked dope, had promiscuous sex and generally raised hell were usually blues and R&B singers. They lived that rough and tumble lifestyle.
The church or regular folk talked about 'em or didn't have anything to do with 'em like you saw depicted with Shug Avery in the Color Purple.
Back in the day, they had informal or staged coronations where people like Aretha, Solomon Burke and James Brown were given crowns and stuff. But they actually deserved their titles.

But I agree with David, being called queen of this or that means nothing these days.

[jobeterob]

Just don't misuse the title Queen of Soul, or a certain somebody will body check you......at least.

[summer96]

Aretha was first crowned the Queen of the Blues then the Queen of Soul.

[daddyacey]

Dinah Washington has been called The Queen Of The Blues for over 50 years
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinah_Washington

[luke]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-o-s-5eAXc Koko Taylor came to mind when I saw this threat.,

[summer96]

Dinah Washington has been called The Queen Of The Blues for over 50 years
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinah_Washington

Was she a prostitute?

[splanky]

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[roger]

Was she a prostitute?

I'm wondering if it possible for people to prove that they are NOT prostitutes ..

Roger

[summer96]

I'm wondering if it possible for people to prove that they are NOT prostitutes ..

Roger

I'm sorry. I'm kind of slow on this. What are you saying?

[daddyacey]

splanky-----Well said.

[splanky]

Thanks, daddyacey...I wasn't too verbose, was I?....

[arrr&bee]

To my knowledge,dinah was never a[prostitute]just great singer,aretha was never the queen of the blues that title was passsed from[ma rainey-billie holliday-dinah].

[Kamasu_Jr]

Dinah Washington liked the opposite sex, but I never heard of her being a prostitute.

[MIKEW-UK]

This is the most puerile, asinine, nasty thread i have read on this forum. If forum members think this is a worthwhile, uplifting, rewarding thread, I definitely do not belong here. I suspect others might feel like I do, even if they don't feel inclined to post their sentiments. Or maybe I just ran out of runway.......

[Kamasu_Jr]

I thought it was a legitimate question...nothing mean spirited or nasty about it at all. People used to talk bad about wild women who sang the blues, smoked and had sex - just like they talked bad about actors.

[MIKEW-UK]

Points of view.....

I came here for the music

I didn't come here to discuss peoples' sex lives

I maybe three thousand miles away physically but a million miles away in my interests...

Goodbye

[summer96]

Points of view.....

I came here for the music

I didn't come here to discuss peoples' sex lives

I maybe three thousand miles away physically but a million miles away in my interests...

Goodbye

A LOT of songs are about sex. So you're really saying nothing. And these 'SEXUAL' songs have influenced thousands of peoples sex lives. Even Martha Reeves gloated in her book about people making love,losing their virginity and making babies to her songs.

[smark21]

This thread is mild in comparison to the thread TopDiva, I mean Summer96, started in which he wondered if Aretha Franklin and her father had an incestuous relationship and he fathered one of her children.

[summer96]

This thread is mild in comparison to the thread TopDiva, I mean Summer96, started in which he wondered if Aretha Franklin and her father had an incestuous relationship and he fathered one of her children.

Go back and read the thread. Some else suggested her father was the father of her child. I do not believe her father did anything inappropriate with her. I believe that is a complete rumor people perpetuated because he had a child with a 12 year old and that is true.

[splanky]

Mike, if you happen to see this, I agree with you. I find myself lately having to try my best
not to personally address some people who have recently joined or returned to the forum
under new names but I can see through their games for the most part. You post too much
valuable stuff IMO, so I hope you haven't left...Kam, I respect you man, but I think you may
be having a problem with some wool...

[Kamasu_Jr]

People being human are gonna gossip and discuss some things that everyone doesn't agree with. It's a public forum. I still don't think the thread was intentionally mean spirited.
And what did I say that was so offensive?
It's been well documented that some people thought some women [[white & black) who sang the blues, cussed and drank whiskey were wild, promiscuous - and maybe even whores. People are gonna talk because it's what they do.
It's been well documented in several books that Dinah Washington liked men. She was a natural woman. And she was married how many times? But I would not call her a prostitute. So again, what did I say that was offensive?
Splanky and MikeW, this thread is mild compared to some of the other things I've seen discussed on other so-called music forums and some of the things I've seen said or printed here. And Splanky, you even referred to Rihanna as a slutty brat in another thread. You don't know her personally. You stated what you did based on what you've heard about her or your own dislike of her.
If some people don't like the content of certain threads, they shouldn't read or respond to them - Or go some place else like they claim they so eagerly want to do. None of us are forced to contribute here and we don't own the forum. And I don't see this thread getting banned or yanked from view. Why get so angry with people [[forum members ) you don't even know? Personally, it's not that serious.

[splanky]

Kam said:

Splanky, you even referred to Rihanna as a slutty brat in another thread. You don't know her personally.

No I don't know her personally but to form an opinion about her based on her public actions
and expressed words, I don't need to. I didn't need to know George Bush Jr to think he was
a jerk, or Rush Limbaugh to think he is a racist bastard , so what ? But my take on Rihanna
is a completely different thing than someone trying to infer that women blues singers were/are all prostitutes. Following that logic let's say all rappers are thugs, all rockers are
spaced out klan members, all jazzmen are wife beaters...If you think all us these seemingly
naive questions are innocent....well.....

[Kamasu_Jr]

I still don't see what was wrong with the question. There wasn't anything racial about the question. Not all female blues singers are black, so I wasn't thinking in racial terms at all, nor was I thinking specifically of Dinah Washington. And there were some people who did think some female blues singers; some female country singers; some female jazz singers and some female rock 'N' roll singers were prostitutes. I know this was most often not the case, but there probably were some who were "whores" in whatever way one chooses to define that word. And if the initial post was meant to slur a particular female singer, I admit the intent was lost on me.

[arrr&bee]

Hey mike,i hope you're still here because you're a legend here with knowledge and info that can't be duplicated so listen,i think the question is from someone young without knowledge of[dinah]who could[outcuss]and[outdrink]most men and would also[outsing]most,but a prostitute,i never heard or read anything about that,come on mike school this young person on what it means by[queen of the blues].

[daddyacey]

[["I find myself lately having to try my best
not to personally address some people who have recently joined or returned to the forum
under new names but I can see through their games for the most part" ) splanky

Again ,well said. I had also the same thought. It's a NY thing ,that radar I guess.