MABLE JOHN

Mable John was Motown's first female recording. act.

She was born in Barstrop, Louisiana, on November 3, 1930, the eldest of nine children. Her siblings included the 1950s Rhythm & Blues star, Little Willie John (“All Around the World,” “Fever,” “Talk To Me”). When Mable was quite young, the family moved to Cullendale, Arkansas, where her father worked in a paper mill.

When her father found a better job, the Johns moved to Detroit in 1941. After high school, Mable worked for the Friendship Mutual Insurance Company. It was run by Bertha Gordy, mother of Motown founder Berry Gordy, Jr. John would end up leaving the company and spending two years at Lewis Business College. She later bumped into Mrs. Gordy, who told John that her son Berry was writing songs and looking for singers to record them. Gordy became John’s coach and accompanied her on piano at local gigs.

In 1959, John performed at Detroit’s Flame Show Bar in what would prove to be Billie Holiday’s last show. Also that year, John began recording for Gordy’s fledgling Motown operation. Her singles came out on the Tamla subsidiary, but none of them sold. As a result, Gordy started using John mainly as a background singer before he ended her contract in 1962.

After Motown, John spent several years with Ray Charles in his back-up group, the Raelettes. In 1966, she signed with the Memphis-based powerhouse, Stax. Her first release on the label proved her biggest. “Your Good Thing (Is About to End)” went top ten on Billboard magazine’s R&B chart but was her only hit. She left Stax in 1968 and went back to being a Raelette. John ended up leaving secular music in 1973, managing gospel acts and making the occasional recording.

By 1986, John was living in Los Angeles, where she founded Joy Community Outreach, a charity that feeds the homeless. In 1991, the UK-based Motorcity label issued a single on her, “Time Stops.” In 1993, John earned a Doctor of Divnity degree from the Crenshaw Christian Center. In 1994, she received a Pioneer Award from the Rhythm & Blues Foundation. In 2007, she played a blues singer in the John Sayles film, Honeydripper. And in 2014, she appeared in the Oscar-winning documentary, 20 Feet from Stardom.

Mable John, 91, died in Los Angeles on August 25, 2022.

Charted single:

“Your Good Thing Is About to End” (1966) R&B #6, Pop #95

Other notable Mable John recordings include “You Are My Only Love” (1960), “Actions Speak Louder Then Words” (1961), “You’re Taking Up Another Man’s Place” (1966), “Same Time, Same Place” (1966), “I’m a Big Girl Now” (1967), “Don’t Hit Me No More” (1967), “Able Mable” (1968), and “Running Out” (1968).