Yancey was born
Estella Harris in
Cairo, Illinois, In 1925, when she was 29, she married
Jimmy Yancey, who had traveled in the United States and Europe as a vaudeville dancer. She often sang with him at informal gatherings and house parties in the 1940s and performed with him at
Carnegie Hall in 1948. Jimmy Yancey was a
boogie-woogie and blues piano player, and Estelle recorded several times with him. Yancey's recordings with other pianists include
Mama Yancey, Singer, Don Ewell, Pianist (Windin' Ball Recordings, 1952);
Chicago—The Living Legends: South Side Blues (Riverside, 1961);
Mama Yancey Sings, Art Hodes Plays Blues (Verve Records, 1965); ''Maybe I'll Cry
, with Erwin Helfer (Red Beans, 1983) recorded when she was 86 and 87 years old; and The Blues of Mama Yancey: Axel Zwingenberger and the Friends of Boogie Woogie, Vol. 4'' (Vagabond Records), recorded in 1982 and 1983 and released in 1988. Yancey died at the age of 90 on April 19, 1986, in Chicago. In 2016 the Killer Blues Headstone Project placed a headstone for Estelle Yancey at
Burr Oak Cemetery in
Alsip, Illinois. ==Selective discography==