With her soulful voice and open sexuality, Ma Rainey became one of the first recorded blues singers after signing with Paramount records in 1923, earning her the title "Mother of Blues." Rainey was an early queer artist, openly enjoying relationships with both men and women. Civil rights leader Angela Davis cites Rainey as an early example of black queer sexuality in her book Blues Legacies and Black Feminism, focusing in particular on her 1928 song, "Prove It on Me Blues." Rainey died in her hometown of Columbus, GA, only a few years after her retirement in 1935. To learn more, see "'Ma Rainey's "Prove It On Me Blues,’ 1928,” by Jonathan Ned Katz.