I was saddened to discover, yesterday, that Big Time Sarah--a much beloved Blues artist in her native Chicago--passed away over the weekend, just 62 years old. She'd been sick since before this past Christmas and her heart finally gave out. It's likely you've never heard of Big Time Sarah, unless you've delved a little deeper into the Blues than just B.B. King, Robert Johnson and Koko Taylor.
Born in Mississippi on January 31, 1953, Sarah Streeter's family moved to the Windy City when she was 7. There, she joined the church choir. When she was 14, her Aunt snuck her into a Blues club and Sarah sang "Stormy Monday" there, the only Blues song she knew at the time. Sunnyland Slim "discovered" Sarah in 1976 and took her on a west coast tour. By the time she returned, she was a headliner. "Stormy Monday" became a staple of her performances. So much so that fans would walk into the bars shouting "Stormy Monday!" She'd yell back, "We just played that. But, if you've got $50, we'll play it again." And they always did.
She was dubbed "Big Time Sarah" because she dreamed of hitting the Big Time and was always confident she would do so, someday. The Big Time, to Sarah, meant a million selling crossover record like B.B. King's "The Thrill Is Gone". As she rose to become one of the best loved women of the Blues in Chicago, she never gave up on that dream.
Sarah never quite escaped the inevitable comparison's to Koko Taylor. But there's a bit of irony in that as it was Sarah's confidence and stage presence that made audiences more accepting of other Blues women, Koko included. She was quite confident that she was at least as good a performer as Koko, if not better. "I just don't get paid as much," she would say. Sarah was brash on stage, sometimes raunchy, often rubbing up against bar patrons suggestively, encouraging some to bury their faces in her chest. Off stage, she was completely different--somewhat shy and very much gentle. She continued to sing in the church choir and donated much of her time and energy to charity and to the betterment of her community, especially at-risk kids. She had mixed feelings about her stage persona. "Sometimes," she told the Chicago Tribune, "it bothers me and I'd prefer not to, but you have to give the people what they're looking for."
Sarah never married nor had much of a romantic life. Nor did she seem troubled by it. As she sang in "I Don't Want No Man", "I don't need no man tellin' me this and that. I don't need no man tellin' me this and that. Go drink your whiskey, I'll drink my wine. You tend to your business and I'll tend to mine." Even when she sang traditional "my woman done me wrong" Blues songs, she'd ad lib lyrics to make sure everyone knew it was the man's fault in the first place.
Like most Blues artists, Sarah spent a lot of her time on the road. "Sometimes it gets rough," she'd say. "Very rough. It's not easy, believe me, to be working on the road. But it's all going to be worth it. I'm going to make it, you know."
Big Time Sarah Streeter has finally made it. God just signed her to an exclusive long-term deal working the best Blues stage in Heaven.
As best as my feeble old mind can recall, Sarah doesn't have any Christmas music out there--at least not on vinyl or CD (I'm gonna kick myself if I find I had something and filed it under "B" for Big instead of "S" for Streeter). But she routinely performed at Christmas time, so you've got to figure there's a tape of her singing at least one holiday standard somewhere, right? Here's hoping.
Born in Mississippi on January 31, 1953, Sarah Streeter's family moved to the Windy City when she was 7. There, she joined the church choir. When she was 14, her Aunt snuck her into a Blues club and Sarah sang "Stormy Monday" there, the only Blues song she knew at the time. Sunnyland Slim "discovered" Sarah in 1976 and took her on a west coast tour. By the time she returned, she was a headliner. "Stormy Monday" became a staple of her performances. So much so that fans would walk into the bars shouting "Stormy Monday!" She'd yell back, "We just played that. But, if you've got $50, we'll play it again." And they always did.
She was dubbed "Big Time Sarah" because she dreamed of hitting the Big Time and was always confident she would do so, someday. The Big Time, to Sarah, meant a million selling crossover record like B.B. King's "The Thrill Is Gone". As she rose to become one of the best loved women of the Blues in Chicago, she never gave up on that dream.
Sarah never quite escaped the inevitable comparison's to Koko Taylor. But there's a bit of irony in that as it was Sarah's confidence and stage presence that made audiences more accepting of other Blues women, Koko included. She was quite confident that she was at least as good a performer as Koko, if not better. "I just don't get paid as much," she would say. Sarah was brash on stage, sometimes raunchy, often rubbing up against bar patrons suggestively, encouraging some to bury their faces in her chest. Off stage, she was completely different--somewhat shy and very much gentle. She continued to sing in the church choir and donated much of her time and energy to charity and to the betterment of her community, especially at-risk kids. She had mixed feelings about her stage persona. "Sometimes," she told the Chicago Tribune, "it bothers me and I'd prefer not to, but you have to give the people what they're looking for."
Sarah never married nor had much of a romantic life. Nor did she seem troubled by it. As she sang in "I Don't Want No Man", "I don't need no man tellin' me this and that. I don't need no man tellin' me this and that. Go drink your whiskey, I'll drink my wine. You tend to your business and I'll tend to mine." Even when she sang traditional "my woman done me wrong" Blues songs, she'd ad lib lyrics to make sure everyone knew it was the man's fault in the first place.
Like most Blues artists, Sarah spent a lot of her time on the road. "Sometimes it gets rough," she'd say. "Very rough. It's not easy, believe me, to be working on the road. But it's all going to be worth it. I'm going to make it, you know."
Big Time Sarah Streeter has finally made it. God just signed her to an exclusive long-term deal working the best Blues stage in Heaven.
As best as my feeble old mind can recall, Sarah doesn't have any Christmas music out there--at least not on vinyl or CD (I'm gonna kick myself if I find I had something and filed it under "B" for Big instead of "S" for Streeter). But she routinely performed at Christmas time, so you've got to figure there's a tape of her singing at least one holiday standard somewhere, right? Here's hoping.
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