Tribute to Mary Ann Fisher

The Kentucky Center for African American Heritage (KCAAH) presents Songbird of the South: The Real Mary Ann Fisher Story. This one-woman show will be performed by Louisville’s Edu-tainer Marjorie Marshall, mentored by Mary Ann Fisher for 18 years until Fisher’s passing on March 12, 2004.

Songbird of the South tells a compelling story that chronicles Fisher’s life from her tragic and traumatic childhood in Henderson, Kentucky. But Fisher endures her early life challenges when her destiny begins to change in 1941 when she wins a talent contest singing at the Lyric Theatre on Walnut Street in Louisville, Kentucky. Winning the contest earned her the name Song Bird of the South. She becomes a popular local talent around Louisville. She ascends to be one of the first talented singers whose life and art became professionally and personally intertwined with the legendary Ray Charles. But Fisher’s story continues after she leaves the Ray Charles Band. Her voice landed her gigs with legends like Marvin Gaye, B.B. King, James Brown, Hank Crawford, Jackie Wilson, Percy Sledge, and Bobby Bland.

Host or Publisher Kentucky Center for African American Heritage