BIOGRAPHY AND DISCOGRAPHY

 
Little is known about pianist/singer Madonna Martin who recorded briefly for Selective Records as they got off the ground in 1949.

Billed at one point as “The Sepia Sophie Tucker” she played a stint at Chicago’s Silver Frolics Club but there’s no indication that she was performing the type of rock ‘n’ roll she’d deliver on wax. She did write her own songs, or adapted them is more like it, and tended to favor songs that had a suggestive undercurrent to them so she could showcase her expressive and energetic voice and strong vocal delivery, but it was her skills on piano that made her somewhat unique among female rockers of the 1940’s as most were only vocalists.

After her brief association with Selective which resulted in just two releases Martin disappeared from public view.
 

MADONNA MARTIN DISCOGRAPHY (Records Reviewed To Date On Spontaneous Lunacy):
 

RATTLESNAKIN’ PAPA
(Selective 104; June, 1949)
A racy song adapted from the blues and revved up by an enthusiastic vocal and piano playing from Martin with a serviceable sax solo to boot, the results of which make this a full-bodied rocker that provides plenty of bang for its buck. (6)

MADONNA’S BOOGIE
(Selective 117; February, 1950)
If not for the recycled lyrics used to formulate a free-floating story this would’ve come across as much better thanks to Martin’s piano skills and her assertive vocals which shows she was done in by a lack of preparation for her studio date rather than an absence of talent. (4)