Barbara Lynn

Barbara Lynn (born Barbara Lynn Ozen, later Barbara Lynn Cumby, January 16, 1942) is an American rhythm and blues and electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. In 2026 Lynn was further honored by being inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

Life and career She was born in Beaumont, Texas, and attended Hebert High School. She was raised Catholic and sang in the choir at her local parish. She also played piano as a child, but switched to guitar, which she plays left-handed. Inspired by blues artists Guitar Slim and Jimmy Reed, and pop acts Elvis Presley and Brenda Lee, and winning several local talent shows, she created an all-female band, Bobbie Lynn and Her Idols. Released by Jamie Records, it was a number 1 US Billboard R&B chart hit and Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hit in 1962.

Unusual for the time, Lynn was a female African American singer who both wrote most of her own songs and played a lead instrument. Soon Lynn was touring with such soul musicians as Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Dionne Warwick, Jackie Wilson, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, James Brown, Al Green, Carla Thomas, Marvin Gaye, Ike and Tina Turner, the Temptations, and B.B. King. She appeared at the Apollo Theater, twice on American Bandstand. In 1965, she had her song, "Oh Baby (We've Got A Good Thing Goin')" (1964) covered by the Rolling Stones on their album The Rolling Stones Now! in America and Out Of Our Heads in the UK. The song was also recorded by Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, with Beverly Skeete lead singing. Lynn continued to record for the Jamie label until 1966 and had several more minor hits.

In 1984 she toured Japan, and recorded a live album, You Don't Have to Go, which was released later in the US. She resumed her recording career after her husband's death, and returned to her hometown of Beaumont, Texas, where her mother lived. In 2002, electronic musician Moby sampled Lynn's "I'm A Good Woman" on his album 18.

She appears in the 2015 music documentary film I Am the Blues.

She is a recipient of a 2018 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

In 2026 Lynn was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

Discography Chart singles

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93 35 Shane K. Bernard, Swamp Pop: Cajun and Creole Rhythm and Blues (1996) Alan B. Govenar, Texas Blues: The Rise of a Contemporary Sound (2003), containing extracts from a 1987 interview with Barbara Lynn