Mary Stafford

Mary Stafford (Missouri?, Atlantic City, 1895 - 1938) was an American blues singer.

Little is known about her life. They worked with Eubie Blake, Bessie Smith and Madison Reed. In the 1920s she made under the name Mary Stafford & Her Jazz Band a number of recordings for the Columbia Recordslabel, including "I'm gonna jazz my way straight through paradise" (1921), her most famous song. According to some sources, she was here accompanied by Charlie Johnson's Orchestra. In this Orchestra was also her brother George, a drummer. She was the first black woman who made a plate for Columbia Records. In 1926 she took several songs on in New York City: ' Ain't got nobody to grind my coffee in the morning "and" Take your finger off it '. In the 1920s, she sang in nightclubs in New York, Baltimore and Atlantic City. They sang in the early 1930s the revues ' Dear Old Southland ' and ' The Rocking Chair Revue '. In 1932 she moved for good to Atlantic City, where she was active in the music no longer.