Mable John was an American blues performer who was Berry Gordy’s first female signing to Motown’s Tamla label.
Mable John earned the Rhythm & Blues Foundation’s Pioneer Award in 1994.
Mrs. Gordy later approached her again, telling her that her son, Berry, was creating songs and seeking for somebody to record them. Gordy began instructing her and accompanied John on piano at local events. This lasted until 1959, when John played at the Flame Gig bar on John R Street for Billie Holiday’s final show in Detroit, only weeks before her death.
John began recording with Gordy the same year. She was first contracted to United Artists, but nothing came of it. She eventually became one of the first performers signed to Gordy’s own label, Tamla.
In 1973, she abandoned secular music to manage Christian gospel performers, occasionally returning to the studio as a vocalist.
Joy Community Outreach, a nonprofit that feeds the homeless in Los Angeles, was started by John in 1986. In 1991, she released “Time Stops” as a single on the London-based Motown revival label Motorcity Records. Crenshaw Christian Center in south Los Angeles awarded John a Doctor of Divinity degree in 1993.
Mable and David Ritz cooperate on Sanctified Blues, a fictitious book about a former singer turned spiritual leader, in 2006.
Mable starred in John Sayles’ 2007 film Honeydripper as Bertha Mae, a seasoned blues singer, in 2008, and in the 2014 Oscar-winning documentary 20 Feet from Stardom.
Her funeral arrangements were underway at the time of this reportage
