Magness was born in Detroit, Michigan. She lost both parents to suicide before she reached her mid-teens, Having been initially inspired by the music in her father's record collection, an underage Magness attended an
Otis Rush concert in
Minneapolis that changed her outlook. Her work, which included backing
Kid Ramos and
R. L. Burnside, Her first album,
More Than Live, was released in 1991; her second release, titled
It Takes One to Know One, was released in 1997. Three independent releases followed before Magness was signed to a recording contract by
NorthernBlues Music. They released
Bury Him at the Crossroads (2004) and
Do I Move You? (2006). saying, "I've had an entire career up to this point of being an interpreter of other people’s songs. And I’ve been fine with that. But it became necessary to change that thinking. This record is titled Original because its eleven original tracks. I’m co-writer on seven of the eleven tracks." Magness won her seventh BMA, the 'Contemporary Blues Female Artist' category, at the 2015 Blues Music Awards ceremony. In 2016, she signed to Blue Elan Records which is also the home to
Jack Tempchin, Gerry Buckley, and Rusty Baker. Her 2016 album,
Love Wins Again, debuted at number 5 on the
Billboard Blues Chart, number 2 on iTunes Blues, reached number 1 on the Blues radio chart, made Living Blues Radio at number 2, and spent two months on the Americana radio chart, and earned her first
Grammy Award nomination. In the years 2016, 2018, and 2019 she performed at the
Americana Music Conference and Festival in Nashville, to further cement her cross-over into the genre. ==Festivals==