Estelle Axton was born on September 11, 1918 in Middleton, TN. After growing up on a farm, she moved to Memphis to become a schoolteacher where she married and had two kids. In 1958, Estelle was approached by her brother Jim Stewart, who asked her to get into the music business with him. They would need a way to finance their new label, so Estelle mortgaged her home. With the $2500 mortgage, they bought an Ampex console and were in business.
Continue ReadingLola Mitchell was born on August 7, 1979 in Memphis, TN. She grew up in a musical household in the Coro Lake neighborhood, and she remembers her parents constantly singing along to their record player. Mitchell wrote poems often, and she began rapping at age nine after receiving a karaoke machine for her birthday. A few years later, she would be delivering verses on platinum albums as the first female rapper from Memphis.
Continue ReadingLillian Hardin was born in Memphis in 1898 to a middle class family. Her father passed away when she was young, so she was raised by her mother and grandmother. Growing up, Lil was not allowed to listen to the blues because it was considered the devil’s music, influencing teens to party, drink, and have sex. However, Lil was allowed to take piano lessons in the first grade to put her on the trajectory of eventually playing the organ at church.
Continue ReadingMemphis Minnie, born Lizzie Douglass, ran away from her home many times growing up, eventually making a permanent move to Beale Street at the age of thirteen. The life she made for herself was not easy: she spent her teenage years homeless, earning what she could by performing. In the early 1900s, Beale Street was not a reputable entertainment district. It had a reputation for debauchery, violence, and prostitution. Because of this rough environment, Douglass developed a thick skin that would shape her into the strong-willed and determined musician she was known as.
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