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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
HONORING MARY LANE, LEGENDARY BLUES SINGER
WHEREAS, Mary Lane is a legendary Blues singer born on November 23, 1935 in Clarendon, Arkansas; and
WHEREAS, at a young age, Mary was a street performer before commencing her career as a teenager in Marvell, Arkansas with slide guitar great Robert Nighthawk; and
WHEREAS, Mary has also worked with one-man band Joe Hill Louis (known as the Be-Bop Boy), Junior Parker, James Cotton, and sat in with Howlin' Wolf at the White Swan, her uncle's club in Brinkley, Arkansas; and
WHEREAS, in 1957, Mary Lane relocated to the Chicagoland area, originally settling 40 miles north in Waukegan, and initiating a longstanding personal relationship with guitarist Morris Pejoe, who recorded for Checker, Vee-Jay, and other local labels; and
WHEREAS, Mary and Morris moved to Chicago in 1961, and while singing with Pejoe's band as Little Mary, she cut her debut single "You Don't Want My Lovin' No More" circa 1964 for Fred Young's Friendly Five label; and
WHEREAS, Mary performed with Buddy Guy and Junior Wells at the famed Checkerboard Lounge and managed the famous Pepper's Lounge on South Michigan Avenue; and
WHEREAS, Mary recorded her first full-length album, Appointment for the Blues in 1997 at 61 years old and just completed her second full-length album at 83 years old, Travelin' Woman; and
WHEREAS, Women of the Blues Records, in partnership with OWL Music & Media, will release Travelin' Woman on March 8th, 2019 in commemoration of Women's Month; and
WHERAS, Mary is the subject of a new documentary about her life, "I Can Only Be Mary Lane", which premiered in London, England and at Buddy Guy's Legends in Chicago on her 83rd birthday; and
WHERAS, Mary Lane and her husband Jeff Labon are a well-known Chicago Blues band, The No Static Blues Band, and they play throughout the Chicagoland area; and
WHEREAS, Mary Lane raised a family of seven children in Chicago, three of whom are now singers; and
NOW, THERE...
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