History: Ann Cole
Blues legend Muddy Waters is most known for a song written by Red Foster called “Got My Mojo Working” and released on the Chess label in 1957. It became his signature song and he played it at every concert until his 1983 death at 70. But he didn’t record it first. That honor went to Cynthia Coleman of Newark whose stage name was Ann Cole. Her version, on the Baton label, was more in keeping with the popular doo-wop style of the day. Muddy’s band had been backing Cole on a tour of the South and when he heard the wildly expressive 23-year old girl belt it out, he knew he had to record it. The week he got back to Chicago, he went into the studio, changed it from a doo-wop pop ditty to a hard-driving blues. He also changed some of the lyrics to get away from the original song’s voodoo intent.
Ann Cole had been in a gospel group with her dad and his brothers, The Colemans, went solo to minor acclaim in the spiritual field with a pair of albums in ’53 and ’54. When she left gospel for soul music, she was named “Most Promising Female R&B Vocalist” by Cashbox magazine, a respected industry trade publication. A few tours and singles later, she went into the studio with Fats Domino before recording an answer song to the Etta James classic “Stop The Wedding.” Hers was called “Don’t Stop The Wedding.”
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As the 1950s came to a close, her ”Have Fun” was the only hit she enjoyed but it was for Roulette Records, whose owner, Morris Levy, was a notorious gangster. She never saw a penny. Shortly thereafter, a car she was driving hit another car head-on and it ended her music career. She spent the rest of her life in a wheelchair and died of heart failure in 1986 at 52. Last year, a compilation of her catalog entitled Got My Mojo Working 1954-1962 was released.