Johnnie Mae Matthews

Celebrated as the "Godmother of Detroit Soul," Johnnie Mae Matthews was born December 31, 1922, in Bessemer, AL. According to the Soulful Detroit website, she learned to sing in her church choir, additionally performing alongside her mother at military bases throughout the Deep South. When she was 12 the family relocated to New Jersey, and in 1947 Matthews alone moved to Detroit, where she married and raised a family, largely limiting her musical aspirations to singing and playing piano at home. In 1957 she joined a local quintet called the Five Dapps, assuming lead vocals on ...