Rose Marie McCoy
| Rose Marie McCoy | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Rose Marie Hinton |
| Born |
April 19, 1922 Oneida, Arkansas, United States |
| Died | January 20, 2015 (aged 92) Champaign, Illinois, United States |
| Genres | Country, Jazz, rhythm & blues, soul, traditional pop |
| Occupation(s) | Songwriter |
| Years active | 1942-2015 |
Rose Marie McCoy (April 19, 1922 – January 20, 2015) was an African American songwriter, influential and prolific during the 1950s and 1960s. Her songs, co-written with others, were successfully recorded by Elvis Presley, Nat King Cole, Big Maybelle, and many others.
She was born Rose Marie Hinton into a farming family in Oneida, Arkansas, and later married James McCoy. She moved to New York City in 1942 to pursue a singing career. After starting her career singing in bars in New Jersey, her vocal talent got her bookings at famous venues such as Harlem’s Baby Grand, Detroit’s Flame Show Bar, Cincinnati's Sportsmen's Club, and Toronto's Basin Street.
In 1952, Rose Marie McCoy wrote and recorded two songs for the newly formed rhythm and blues label Wheeler Records, “Cheating Blues” and “Georgie Boy Blues”. After publishers heard these songs they sought her out, and she started working in the Brill Building. One of the first songs she was asked to write was a half-spoken, half-sung song, “Gabbin’ Blues”, co-written with Leroy Kirkland, and sung by Big Maybelle with the spoken part provided by McCoy herself. “Gabbin’ Blues”, which reached #3 on the Billboard R&B chart, was the first big hit for Big Maybelle and the songwriter’s first hit.
McCoy wrote other songs for Big Maybelle, and other popular R&B artists including Louis Jordan (“If I Had Any Sense I’d Go Back Home” and “House Party”) and co-wrote, with Fred Mendelsohn, Nappy Brown's 1955 single "Don't Be Angry" (also recorded for the pop market by the Crew-Cuts).
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