Performing Arts Library
College of St. Catherine

Women in Popular Music:
Biographies & Autobiographies

Last updated: 21 January 2000

These titles are alphabetized according to the subject of the biography. Also see Women in Popular Music: General Works for surveys of the contributions of women to various types of popular music.

Baez, Joan (folk singer; 1941- )

Baez, Joan. And a Voice to Sing With: A Memoir. New York: Summit Books, 1987.
St. Paul Campus Library, Lower Level ML420 .B114 A3 1987

 

Baez, Joan. Daybreak. New York: Dial Press, 1968.
St. Paul Campus Library, Lower Level ML420 B11D

 

Bailey, Pearl (jazz & pop singer, actress; 1918-1990)

Bailey, Pearl. The Raw Pearl. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, [1968].
St. Paul Campus Library, Lower Level ML420 B12R

 

Bricktop (Stage name of the jazz singer and nightclub entertainer Ada Smith, 1894-1984)

Bricktop. Bricktop. New York: Atheneum, 1983.
St. Paul Campus Library, Lower Level ML420 .B777 A3 1983

 

Fitzgerald, Ella (jazz singer; 1918-1996)

Nicholson, Stuart. Ella Fitzgerald: A Biography of the First Lady of Jazz. New York: Charles Scribners, 1993.
Performing Arts Library ML420 .F52 N5 1994

 

Jackson, Aunt Molly (singer)

Romalis, Shelly. Pistol Packin' Mama: Aunt Molly Jackson and the Politics of Folksong. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1999.

Performing Arts Library ML420.J15 R66 1999

 

Jackson, Mahalia (singer; 1911-1972)

Goreau, Laurraine. Just Mahalia, Baby. Waco, TX: Word Books, [1975].
St. Paul Campus Library, Lower Level ML420 J17G67

 

Jackson, Mahalia. Movin' on Up. New York: Hawthorn Books, [1966].
St. Paul Campus Library, Lower Level ML420 J17A3

 

Joplin, Janis (rock and blues singer; 1943-1970)

Friedman, Myra. Buried Alive: The Biography of Janis Joplin. New York: W. Morrow, 1973.
St. Paul Campus Library, Lower Level ML420 J77ZF

 

Piaf, Edith (nightclub singer; 1915-1963)

Berteaut, Simone. Piaf: A Biography. New York: Harper & Row, [1972].
St. Paul Campus Library, Lower Level ML420 P52B53

 

Piaf, Edith. The Wheel of Fortune: The Autobiography of Edith Piaf. Translated by Peter Trewartha and Andree Masoin de Virton. Philadelphia: Chilton Books, 1965.
St. Paul Campus Library, Lower Level ML420 .P52 A33

 

Smith, Ada. See Bricktop.

 

Smith, Bessie (blues singer; 1895?-1937)

Albertson, Chris. Bessie. New York: Stein and Day, [1972].
St. Paul Campus Library, Lower Level ML420 .S667 A7

 

Yurchenko, Henrietta. "Mean Mama Blues: Bessie Smith and the Vaudeville Era." In Music, Gender, and Culture, pp. 241-251. Edited by Marcia Herndon and Suzanne Ziegler. Wilhelmshaven, West Germany: Florian Noetzel Verlag, 1990.
Performing Arts Library ML82 .M77 1990

 

Waters, Ethel (jazz and blues singer; 1896-1977)

Knaack, Twila. Ethel Waters: I Touched a Sparrow. Waco, TX: Word Books, 1978.
St. Paul Campus Library, Lower Level ML420 .W24 K5

 

Waters, Ethel. To Me It's Wonderful. New York: Harper & Row, [1972].
St. Paul Campus Library, Lower Level ML420 W24A