Real name: Gertrude Pridgitt, born in 1886. Gertrude changed her name in 1904 when she married William "Pa" Rainey.

In the mid to late 1920s Rainey wrote and recorded over a hundred songs for Paramount Records. She was unique in that while many blues songs sang by women were about lost love, Rainey sang freely about women's rights, sexuality, politics and religion. With her music she encouraged women to be self-reliant. Her breakup songs usually had the women leaving the man.

Rainey was raised a Baptist but that didn't stop other Black Christians from opposing her "sinful" lyrics and lifestyle. According to a persistant rumor, Ma Rainey kidnapped Bessie Smith, taught her to sing the blues and then became her lover. No one knows for sure if that's true but Rainey and Smith did work together and Rainey was openly bisexual.

When Rainey's mother and sister died, she left her career rejoined the church. When the "mother of the blues" died in 1939 her death certificate listed her occupation as housekeeper.