CHICAGO -- Edith Wilson, the famous 'Aunt Jemima' on the pancake box, died Monday night. She was 76.
Miss Wilson had been hospitalized at Michael Reese Hospital with a stroke for several weeks.
Miss Wilson gained national fame as the motherly face in Quaker Oats Co. advertising. Later, she also played Aunt Jemima in radio, television and personal appearances from 1948 to 1966.
She began her career as a singer, and was the first black woman to record for a major company.
She first recorded 'Nervous Blues' in 1921 on Columbia Records, said Bob Koester, president of Delmark Records. Her big hit was: 'He may be your man but he comes to see me sometimes.'
In 1929, she recorded with Bubber Miley on the Victor label and toured with Miley's and Duke Ellington's bands in the United States and Europe. In the 1930s, she lent her 'melodic, good, rich voice' to black reviews in New York City, Koester said.
Downbeat Magazine called her 'captivating in the extreme.'
She appeared in The Plantation Revue in Harlem and on a European tour and Connie's Hot Chocolates Revue. In the 1940s, she appeared in the Amos and Andy and The Great Guildersleeve radio serials.
Miss Wilson recorded her first album in 1977 when she put out a Greatest Hits collection. The songs 'Black and Blue' by Fats Waller and 'Yankee Doodle Blues' by George Gershwin were written for her.
She recently toured with piano bluesman Little Brother Montgomery at area colleges and clubs and dropped in frequently at Chicago's traditional jazz clubs.
The first black woman ever to record was Mamie Smith, who cut 'Crazy Blues.'
Miss Wilson is survived by her husband, Millard, and two sisters, Grace Harrison and Maddie Goodall. She had lived on Chicago's South Side since the 1950s.
Visitation will be at the Metropolitan Funeral Parlors from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday. Services will be at 1 p.m. Saturday.
