Best known as a pop and R&B singer Ruth Brown had the soul of a blues shouter.

Between 1949, when she recorded her first success So Long, to 1955, Ruthy scored 16 top ten hits for Atlantic Records. Five of those records were number ones. She was so successful that Atlantic Records was called ‘The House That Ruth Built.‘

In the 60s, Ruth retired from the music business to become a housewife and raise a family. She returned to music in 1975, firing on all cylinders.

A huge influence on Bonnie Raitt, Ruth was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as the ‘Queen Mother of the Blues’ in 1993. Her mastery of blues is demonstrated beautifully in her playful 1993 duet with BB King on Ain’t Nobody’s Business. Listen below - and then expand to full-screen to watch and learn from two masters of the blues…

Listen: Ruth Brown and BB King - Ain’t Nobody’s Business (live at The Blues Summit Concert,1993)