Ida Cox – 1896-1967
Georgia native Cox sang in the choir of the African Methodist Church in Cedartown before she left home to tour with traveling minstrel shows. In the 1920s, she began making “race records” (recordings by black performers, mostly marketed to a black audience) that helped inaugurate the era of classic female blues. She was a sensation among black and white audiences alike and was billed on tours as the “Sepia Mae West.”