Celebrating Black History Month: Linda Martell
Linda Martell was the first commercially successful African-American singer in the country music field.
Born in Leesville, South Carolina, on June 4, 1941, Martell started out singing R&B in Columbia clubs.
In her teens she listened to country, gospel and R&B music and formed a singing trio with her family named Linda Martell and the Anglos. The group had little success, recording several R&B singles in the 1960s.
She got her start in country music in 1969 when she signed with Shelby Singleton’s Nashville label “Plantation” after being discovered singing country music on an Air Force base.
The label released her country cover of “Color Him Father” that same year. It became a Top 25 single on the Billboard charts.
The hit single helped her become the first black woman to ever appear on the Grand Ole Opry. She performed there 12 times.
In 1970 she scored two Top 60 hits with “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” and “Bad Case of the Blues.”
Although Martell retired from the country music industry in 1974, and returned to South Carolina in the 1990s, she helped influence the careers of today’s Nashville artists of color.
