Sophie Tucker was one of the innovative female stars of the early recording era, a Russian-born immigrant who became a hugely popular singer, comedian, actress and radio personality, and was a natural on the vaudeville stage. She became a movie actress, as well as building a parallel career in the UK, and remained active and visible well into the post-war decades. She became famous for her risqué material and performed extrovert songs that brought her the nicknames of “Red Hot Mama” and “Last Of The Red Hot Mamas”. 

This 49-track 2-CD collection comprises all her twenty career hits, plus selected releases on the Okeh, Columbia, Columbia UK, Vocalion UK ‘Broadcast Twelve’ series, Parlophone  and Decca labels from this era. It features her classic best-known hit “Some Of These Days”, along with “Red Hot Mama”, “My Yiddishe Momme”, “I’m The Last Of The Red-Hot Mamas”, “After You’ve Gone”, “I Ain’t Got Nobody”, “The Man I Love” and “The Lady Is A Tramp” – those hits obviously include early versions of songs that became enduring standards, and there are plenty more of those in the set as well. 

She was a highly distinctive larger-than-life personality and this collection is an entertaining showcase for the qualities that made her such a popular artist across several decades.