[2] She learned from local artists Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers and Kansas City Red at the Chicago club B.L.U.E.S.
After a bandleader in a Chicago jazz club tried to publicly humiliate her by accusing her of being a blues singer, she became determined to study music.
[2] Mandeville toured professionally for ten years across the upper Midwest and Canada with the R&B band the Supernaturals.
[2] She met bassist Aron Burton in 1994 and started "a longstanding performance relationship" with him that included her "label recording debut.
[11] Mandeville has said she was most influenced by Muddy Waters and called Koko Taylor her idol,[9] but it was when she heard Luther Allison singing live that she knew the blues was her genre.
[3] Writer Karen Hanson described Mandeville's voice as sultry and wrote that she is a contemporary performer steeped in tradition.
[12] American Blues News reviewer Monica Yasher wrote that Mandeville is "known for her remarkably versatile voice, insightful songs, humorous onstage patter and deeply traditional guitar work" and is also "an accomplished Louisanna washboard player.