Lavinia Turner

Biography Turner was born in Virginia, to parents from Virginia, around 1888. She was living in New York City, making her living as a performer, by 1920. were of "How Many Times?" and "Can't Get Lovin' Blues", with piano accompaniment, possibly by Willie Gant. It is thought that Clarence Williams played the piano on two of her other recordings. Turner was thus one of the first black women to sing blues on recordings, which were made in New York City. However, also in 1921, other blues singers, such as Lillyn Brown, Lucille Hegamin, and Daisy Martin, all made records. Six of Turner's sides, including "When the Rain Turns into Snow (Who's Gonna Keep You Warm)" and "Who'll Drive Your Blues Away", were with piano accompaniment by James P. Johnson. They were originally issued on both Pathé Actuelle Records and Perfect Records. At least two of her tracks were issued by Okeh Records.

Two of the songs that Turner recorded, "Watch Me Go" and "He Took It Away from Me", were written by Roy Turk and J. Russel Robinson.

Her work has appeared on various compilation albums, including Female Blues 1921–1928 (Document Records, 1997), which includes "When the Rain Turns into Snow (Who's Gonna Keep You Warm)" and "Who'll Drive Your Blues Away". In 1994, Document Records issued an anthology incorporating all of her known recorded work, together with the later recordings of Virginia Liston.