More details:
Mary Stafford (b. ca. 1895 in Missouri, d. ca. 1938 in Atlantic City, NJ), born Annie Burns, was a cabaret singer in the classic blues style.
Annie Burns was from Springfield, Missouri. In January 1921, Stafford became the first African-American woman to record for Columbia Records. She toured widely throughout the mid-Atlantic states in the 1920s and into the 1930s. She performed at the Lafayette Theater in New York City, where she appeared in Rocking Chair Revue in 1931 and Dear Old Southland in 1932. After 1932 she worked outside the music industry in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where she is thought to have died about 1938. Among the 14 sides she recorded between 1921 and 1926 were covers of some of the most popular blues of the day, such as "Royal Garden Blues", "Crazy Blues", and "Arkansas Blues". She also recorded "I'm Gonna Jazz My Way Right Straight Thru Paradise" and "Take Your Finger Off It". Her complete recordings have been reissued in CD format by Document Records on Female Blues Singers Volume 13: R/S (1921–1931) (DOCD-5517). She was the sister of jazz drummer, George Stafford, who played in her backing band.
* * * * *
By Ron DePasquale
Mary Stafford became the first black woman to record for Columbia Records, releasing records under the name Mary Stafford & Her Jazz Band. After moving east from Missouri in the mid-'10s, Stafford worked with Eubie Banks, Bessie Smith, and Madison Reed in Atlantic City and Baltimore. She was backed up by Charlie Johnson's Orchestra (which included her brother George, a drummer) through the mid-'20s. Stafford spent the rest of the decade singing in the nightclubs of New York and Maryland. The early '30s brought the musical revues Dear Old Southland and the Rocking Chair Revue. In 1932, she settled in Atlantic City and retired from music. Her song "I'm Gonna Jazz My Way Straight Through Paradise" appeared on the collection Blue Ladies [Memphis Archives].