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Criminal

The Impersonator

Criminal

Vox Media Podcast Network

True Crime, Society & Culture, Documentary

4.738.4K Ratings

🗓️ 30 June 2023

⏱️ 34 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Mary Jones could sing just like Aretha Franklin. One night, a James Brown impersonator saw her perform at a Motown tribute show - and thought he could take her on tour and trick audiences into believing she was the real Queen of Soul. Jeff Maysh tells the story. Learn more in Jeff Maysh’s piece for Smithsonian Magazine, “The Counterfeit Queen of Soul.” Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for our occasional newsletter, The Accomplice. Follow the show and review us on Apple Podcasts: iTunes.com/CriminalShow. Sign up for Criminal Plus to get behind-the-scenes bonus episodes of Criminal, ad-free listening of all of our shows, and members-only merch. Learn more and sign up here. Listen back through our archives at youtube.com/criminalpodcast. We also make This is Love and Phoebe Reads a Mystery. Artwork by Julienne Alexander. Check out our online shop. Episode transcripts are posted on our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Support for this show comes from Krakan.

0:03.0

Krypto is like the financial system, but different.

0:07.0

It doesn't care where you come from, what you look like, your credit score,

0:11.0

or your outrageous food delivery habits.

0:13.7

crypto is finance for everyone everywhere all the time.

0:18.4

Krakhan, see what crypto can be.

0:21.3

Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest.

0:25.0

This is a high-risk investment and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Her sons told me she was born to sing, she was born to perform.

0:35.0

There was always music in the house.

0:38.0

They might not have often had food or, you know, heating, but there was always music playing writer Jeff Meish. They

0:46.4

recalled she would take a speaker and run it outside and she would perform as

0:52.2

a wreath and everyone in the neighborhood would come and gather around the house and watch her perform.

0:57.0

It was like going to a local Aretha Franklin concert and they said that she was her happiest when she was singing no matter what was going on in her in her personal life in her private life

1:09.0

it seemed that whenever she was singing she just seemed happy.

1:13.0

Mary Jane Jones was a member of a church gospel choir called The Great Gate

1:20.0

in her hometown of West Petersburg, Virginia.

1:23.0

And they would tour around America performing in churches all across the country.

1:30.0

In 1969, Mary Jones was 27 years old.

1:35.0

She was a single mother and she had three young children at home.

1:39.0

And she sang at church, but she also had a secret double life performing in local nightclubs to earn some extra money

1:50.2

When Motown music emerged it wasn't accepted by the church they thought it was sinful

1:57.4

Some of the lyrics were a bit too risque

...

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