Dr Mable John – Founder Of Joy Community Outreach

A former R&B vocalist, she is the sister of the late-great Little Willie John. When she embarked on her singing career, she received a bit of advice from her already famous brother. “Either be a star or pack your bags and go home”. Mable heeded his advice; she is indeed a star.

During the 50’s and 60’s, John toured the South with some of the biggest names of that era: Jimmy Reed, Shirley and Lee, B.B. King, Sam Cooke, The Flamingo’s and others.

John was signed to the Stax label by her manager, Lucky Cordell. John’s first big hit (which she co-authored) was “Your Good Thing (Is About To End), recorded in 1966. Before signing with Stax, she was with Motown. She recorded on the Tamla label and is a personal friend of the Gordy family. For a brief time, Mable worked with Gordy’s Mother at a major Detroit insurance firm.

A picture taken at the close of a show at the Flame Bar in Detroit shows Mable with Billie Holiday and Berry Gordy, Jr., Billie Holiday’s husband liked the photograph and had a ceiling to floor, wall to wall blow-up made, which now hangs in the Studios at Paramount Pictures in Hollywood.