Ida Cox
| Ida Cox | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ida M. Prather |
| Born |
February 25, 1888 or 1896 , U.S. |
| Died | November 10, 1967 (age 71–79) Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz, blues |
| Instruments | Vocalist |
| Years active | 1910s–1960 |
Ida Cox (February 26, 1888 or 1896 – November 10, 1967) was an African-American singer and vaudeville performer, best known for her blues performances and recordings. She was billed as "The Uncrowned Queen of the Blues".
Cox was born Ida M. Prather, the daughter of Lamax and Susie (Knight) Prather, sharecroppers in , and grew up in Cedartown, Polk County, Georgia. Many sources give her birth date as February 26, 1896, but the researchers Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc have suggested she was born in 1888 and noted other evidence suggesting 1894. Her family lived and worked in the shadow of the Riverside Plantation, the private residence of the wealthy Prather family, from which her namesake came. She faced a future of poverty and few educational and employment opportunities.
Cox joined the local African Methodist Choir at an early age and developed an interest in gospel music and performance. At the age of 14, she left home to tour with White and Clark's Black & Tan Minstrels. She began her career on stage by playing Topsy, a "pickaninny" role commonly performed in vaudeville shows of the time, often in blackface. Cox's early experience with touring troupes included stints with other African-American travelling minstrel shows on the Theater Owners Booking Association vaudeville circuit: the Florida Orange Blossom Minstrels, the Silas Green Show, and the Rabbit Foot Minstrels.
The Rabbit Foot Minstrels, organized by F. S. Wolcott and based after 1918 in Port Gibson, Mississippi, were important not only for the development of Cox’s performing career but also for launching the careers of her idols Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. Known colloquially as the Foots, the troupe provided a nurturing environment in which Cox developed her stage presence, but life on the vaudeville circuit was trying for performers and workers alike. Paul Oliver wrote, in The Story of the Blues, "The 'Foots' travelled in two cars and had an 80' x 110' tent which was raised by the roustabouts and canvassmen, while a brass band would parade in town to advertise the coming of the show....The stage would be of boards on a folding frame and Coleman lanterns – gasoline mantle lamps – acted as footlights. There were no microphones; the weaker voiced singers used a megaphone, but most of the featured women blues singers scorned such aids to volume." When she was not singing, Cox performed as a sharp-witted comedian in vaudeville variety shows, gaining valuable stage experience and cultivating her stage presence.
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