Big Mama Thornton

the long version

"'You ain't nothing but a hound dog' ... with these words shouted into the microphone she will always be remembered: Big Mama Thornton. Who is this woman who sang the megahit 'Hound dog' before Elvis Presley and who wrote 'Ball & chain,' the song that catapulted Janis Joplin to sudden fame? The story begins with her first musical attempts in the Hot Harlem Revue as a girl of 14 and follows her career until her untimely death at age 57 in 1984"--from publisher.