Background
Yancey, born Estella Harris in Cairo, Illinois, grew up in Chicago, where she sang in church choirs and learned how to play the guitar.
Yancey, born Estella Harris in Cairo, Illinois, grew up in Chicago, where she sang in church choirs and learned how to play the guitar.
She was nominated four times for the Blues Music Awards as "Traditional Blues Female Artist."
She often sang with him at informal get-togethers and house parties in the 1940s and performed with him at Carnegie Hall, New York in 1948. In 1943, the Yanceys recorded for Session Records, and went back into the studio to record the album Pure Blues for Atlantic Records in 1951. The session was just a few months before Jimmy Yancey"s death that same year.
Estelle continued to perform and record.
In her late years, she often performed with Chicago pianist Erwin Helfer, especially at the University of Chicago Folk Festival. One of the best examples of her soulful, expressive vocals can be found on an album for Atlantic Records, Jimmy and Mama Yancey: Chicago Piano, Volume
1. (1952). Songs include "Make Maine a Pallet on the Floor," "Four O"Clock Blues," "Monkey Woman Blues," "Santa Fe Blues," and "How Long Blues."
4 for Vagabond Records, recorded in 1982 and 1983 and released in 1988.
Estelle Yancey died April 19, 1986 in Chicago, Illinois.