During the era of Jim Crow, black singers were played on black radio stations, and white singers on white ones. Famously, Elvis Presley adopted the bluesy style and songs of black performers, shocking white audiences. Rose Marie McCoy wanted to be a singer, but became one of the best songwriters of the time, working on both sides of the color barrier with hits by Ike and Tina Turner, Elvis Presley, James Taylor, and Sarah Vaughn, among others.
At the Puffin Cultural Forum in Teaneck on July 26, "40s to 60s, A Musical Journey" will chart the journey from the blues to rock and roll, including songs by McCoy and others. Singer Audrey Martells will perform and McCoy’s biographer, Arlene Corsano, will share anecdotes and provide historical context. In this Jersey Arts Podcast, Corsano talks to producer Susan Wallner about Rose Marie McCoy, a black woman whose talent and spunk helped her make it in the music industry during the 1940s, '50s and '60s.
