The singer Beyoncé43, congratulated Linda Martell for his nomination to the Grammy Awards on Friday (8). The black country pioneer competes with “Spaghettii”song in which he is credited with the voice of “Crazy In Love” e Shaboozeyin the category of Best Melodic Rap Performance.
A shared an image of Linda Martell on Instagram and paid tribute to the singer’s legacy in country.
“Congratulations to my queen Linda Martell on her nomination and her contribution to country music,” Beyoncé wrote in the caption.
Who was Linda Martell?
Born as Thelma Bynem in South Carolina in 1941, the singer faced tremendous difficulties in the 1960s when she tried to achieve success in country music as a black woman.
Growing up in the segregated South, Martell sang soul and R&B music. When she tried to expand her musical genres into country, she encountered both racism and resistance.
“As you sang, they would call out names and you know the names they would use to refer to you,” she said in an interview with Rolling Stone in 2020.
William “Duke Rayner,” who ran a furniture store, heard that Martell did some country music covers and connected her with Shelby Singleton Jr., who worked in the music industry and had progressive ideas at the time.
“Rhythm and blues [R&B] and country music are the most parallel types of music there is,” Singleton said. “It’s people’s work that makes people listen to both.”
The trio worked quickly. In a matter of days with Singleton, Martell completed the album with a cover of The Winston’s “Color Him Father.” The track reached number 22 on the country music charts.
“Country music tells a story,” Martell told Rolling Stone. “When you pick a song and you can feel that, that’s what made me feel good about what I was singing. I’ve done a lot of country songs and I’ve loved every single one of them – because they tell a story.”
*With information from CNN International
