First female act signed to Motown honored in Bastrop for contributions to blues genre

Ian Robinson, Monroe News-Star
Updated ·4 min read

The first female solo artist signed to Motown Records and longtime Ray Charles collaborator with roots in Northeast Louisiana was honored for her contributions to music in Morehouse Parish.

Mable John was honored with a marker on the Northeast Louisiana Music Trail and a tribute concert Saturday at 11:30 p.m. at the Courthouse Square Downtown Bastrop, 100 East Madison Avenue, Bastrop.

John was the first female signed to Tamla Records, the precursor to Motown Records, which produced acts such as The Supremes and the Jackson Five, and sung as a Raelette for several years, backing many Ray Charles hits.

Mable John was a blues singer and was the first female artist signed by Berry Gordy to Tamla Records, precursor to Motown Records.
Mable John was a blues singer and was the first female artist signed by Berry Gordy to Tamla Records, precursor to Motown Records.

Born in Bastrop as the eldest of at least nine siblings, John and her family moved to Arkansas, where her father got a job in a paper mill near Cullendale, where four of her brothers and two of her sisters were born. One of her brothers, Little Willie John, had success during the 1950s and early 1960s with six single, including his number-one R&B hit "Fever."

Her family moved to Detroit in 1941 after her father secured a better job. After graduating high school in 1956, John worked as a secretary at the Friendship Mutual Insurance Company where Bertha Gordy, mother of Motown founder Berry Gordy worked as a supervisor.

Prior to being signed to Tamla, she acted as Gordy's chauffer and general assigned for three years. During her time with Tamla, she released three singles "Who Wouldn't Love a Man Like That?," "No Love," and "Actions Speak Louder Than Words," all of which, failed to chart.

As Motown started having success with acts like the Miracles, the Marvelettes, Martha & the Vandellas and the Supremes, all of whom appealed to an younger audience, Gordy thinned out of his roster of early blues artists, including John. Although she continued to be used as a background singer, Gordy dissolved her contract in 1962.

John signed to Stax Records in 1966 with her first single, "Your Good Thing (Is About to End)," peaking at No. 6 on the R&B chart, and even managing to cross over onto pop radio, peaking at No. 95. She released six more singles for the label, none of matched her first single's success.

After leaving Stax in 1968, John rejoined the Raelettes for several before ultimately leaving secular music in 1973 to manage Christian gospel acts. She would go on to start a Los Angeles-based charity called "Joy Community Outreach to End Homeless," which provided food and clothing to more than 100 people a day.

She became the pastor and founder of Joy in Jesus Ministries in Los Angeles in 1986.

John earned a Doctor of Divinity degree from Crenshaw Christian Center in 1993 and, in 1994, she was awarded the Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. John died in Los Angeles in 1922, at age 91.

Bastrop Mayor Betty Alford-Olive said on behalf of the city, she is appreciative of Doyle Jeter, Northeast Louisiana Music Trail donors and sponsors for recognizing John and her roots in Bastrop.

"I had an opportunity to meet her," Alford-Olive said. "She used to call me and I would call her, and she had a life dream of always coming back to the place of her birth. I believe it was for her 90th birthday, she came back to Bastrop and had a birthday party, and she wanted to develop a literacy center. She wanted to make her mark on Bastrop. She said she would travel worldwide and people she encountered would ask her, 'Where were you born?' and she would say, 'Bastrop'. They would ask, 'Where was Bastrop?' and she would say, 'Next door to Monroe' because Monroe was the next larger city to Bastrop."

Even though John's induction into the NELA Music Trail is posthumous, Alford-Olive said, it is her dream that comes to true on some level that her birthplace is going to recognize her for her works and everything she stood for.

"She was a minister and she ministered to the needy families by having a food pantry and she fed people during Christmas time and holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas time," Alford-Olive said. "It's like her life has made a full circle back to the place of her birth."

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This article originally appeared on Monroe News-Star: NELA Music Trail honors first female act signed to Motown in Bastrop