Background
She was born in Newark, New Jersey. Her father Wallace and her uncles were members of a spiritual vocal group, the Coleman Brothers.
She was born in Newark, New Jersey. Her father Wallace and her uncles were members of a spiritual vocal group, the Coleman Brothers.
She had several minor hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, but is now most noted as the original performer of "Got My Mojo Working", later popularised by Muddy Waters. In 1949, she formed her own singing group, the Colemanaires, with Joe Walker, Sam Walker, and Wesley Johnson. They toured throughout the United States, with Cynthia as lead singer, and released several gospel records in 1953-1954 on the Timely and Apollo labels.
She released her first secular recordings on the Timely label in 1954, using the pseudonym "Ann Cole", and performed as a singer and pianist in bars around New York and New Jersey.
There, she was discovered by Sol Rabinowitz who was establishing a new company, Baton Records. Her first recording for Baton, a cover version of Sheb Wooley"s country song "Are You Satisfied?", featuring guitar work by Mickey Baker, reached northern
10 on the Billboard Rhythm & Blues chart in early 1956. Late in 1956 she went on a short tour through the Southern states with Muddy Waters, during which she regularly performed a new song written by Preston Foster, "Got My Mo-Jo Working".
The song impressed Muddy Waters, who recorded it when he returned to Chess Records, adding some of his own words and allocating himself the songwriting cartulary-register
Both versions of the song were released in the same week, but neither made the charts. A later court case resolved a dispute over the song"s writing cr in favour of Foster. Ann Cole continued to record for Baton, with little success, until 1958, and is also believed to be the uncredited female singer on Fats Domino"s record "When I See You".
She later recorded for the Sir, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Roulette labels.
Her only record for Roulette was "Have Fun", which reached northern 21 on the Rhythm & Blues chart at the end of 1962.
Its B-side, "Don"t Stop The Wedding", an answer song to Etta James" "Stop The Wedding", reached northern 99 on the popular chart. Soon afterwards, she was involved in a serious car accident, which ended her musical career and confined her to a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
She died in November 1986.