[2] Yancey was born Estella Harris in Cairo, Illinois,[1] and grew up in Chicago, where she sang in church choirs and learned to play the guitar.
[3] In 1925, when she was 29, she married Jimmy Yancey,[4] who had traveled in the United States and Europe as a vaudeville dancer.
[5] Jimmy Yancey was a boogie-woogie and blues piano player, and Estelle recorded several times with him.
One of the best examples of her singing is on the album Jimmy and Mama Yancey: Chicago Piano, Vol.
[9] Yancey's recordings with other pianists include Mama Yancey, Singer, Don Ewell, Pianist (Windin' Ball Recordings, 1952);[10] Chicago—The Living Legends: South Side Blues (Riverside, 1961);[11] Mama Yancey Sings, Art Hodes Plays Blues (Verve Records, 1965);[12] Maybe I'll Cry, with Erwin Helfer (Red Beans, 1983)[13] recorded when she was 86 and 87 years old; and The Blues of Mama Yancey: Axel Zwingenberger and the Friends of Boogie Woogie, Vol.