Edith Wilson

Edith Wilson belongs to that first group of African-American women referred to as vaudeville or cabaret blues singers that in the early '20s followed Mamie Smith into the recording studios. Wilson's recording career started with Columbia in 1921 with accompaniment provided by trumpeter Johnny Dunn's Jazz Hounds. She was born Edith Goodall to a middle-class Black family in Louisville, Kentucky on September 2, 1896. Her birthdate is often given as ten years later, due to vanity. Her ancestors included an American Vice-President, John C. Breckenridge, and a woman who was the mo...