Modern audiences may remember Ruth Brown as Motormouth Maybelle in the original John Waters' version of "Hairspray" (1988). But she was also one of the biggest rhythm & blues stars of the 1950s, and the first major artist in the roster of the fledgling Atlantic Records, founded by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson in 1947.
By the time Brown recorded her #1 R&B hit "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean" in 1952, Atlantic had become one of the leading record labels in the R&B market, to a large extent thanks to her record sales. In the UK, the future soul music guru Dave Godin found a bar which had a jukebox stocked with current American R&B singles (I wonder if they were still 78s?), and he later cited this Ruth Brown classic as the record that changed his life.
Amazingly enough, there is a great live video recorded in 1954, which captures Ruth Brown in her prime, performing this song.
Ruth Brown: "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean" (1954)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqmGZRGvKC8
