Edith Wilson
The seventh 1923 post for our annual celebration of Black History Month.
One hundred years ago today … "He Used to Be Your Man but He's My Man Now" was a hit for blues singer Edith Wilson. Click the image below to listen.
“He Used to Be Your Man but He's My Man Now.” 1922. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress,
The record, whose B-side featured "Dixie Blues," was on sale from Columbia Records, advertised in the Daily News and, more prominently, the New York Age.
Daily News, 20 February 1923, p. 7. Newspapers.com
New York Age, 24 February 1923, p. 3. Newspapers.com
Wilson had recorded the two tunes the previous November at Columbia's studio in Columbus Circle, one of a series of blues tracks she cut for the label in 1922 and 1923. The band that supported her was a successful group in its own right, Johnny Dunn’s Original Jazz Hounds, also a Columbia recording artist.
"He Used to Be Your Man but He's My Man Now" was composed by Perry Bradford, who has popped up on our site regularly.
Wilson had been featured in The Plantation Revue, which had run the in the summer of 1922. It was in the process of restarting.
Brooklyn Life. 17 February, 1923, p. 6. Newspapers.com
– Jonathan Goldman, February 20, 2023
TAGS: Black history, jazz, blues, Harlem Renaissance, African American music