THE Linda Martell was briefly a major country music star in the early 1970s.

She had a hit single on a hit album titled “ Color Me Country” and became the first black woman to sing on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.

The country music pioneer features in her first country album Beyonce “Cowboy Carter” in the songs “The Linda Martell Show” and “Spaghettii”.

Linda Martell (Thelma Bynum) was born on June 4, 1941, in Leesville, South Carolina, which at the time was in the heart of the segregated South. Her father was a cattle farmer and her mother worked in a slaughterhouse and from the age of seven, Martel cooked and looked after her siblings.

Her singing career began in her town’s Baptist church. Later, as a teenager, she formed the R&B group, The Anglos, with her sister and cousin, and they performed at their school and at local clubs.

One day, a local DJ saw Martel singing. His name, according to Rolling Stone, which the singer interviewed in 2020, was Charles “Big Saul” Greene. He urged her to change her name, the group was renamed Linda Martell & The Anglos, and they released their first single, “A Little Tear (Was Falling From My Eyes),” in 1969.

The group did not enjoy much commercial success and Martel pursued a solo career. While performing at a local Air Force base, she was discovered by furniture store owner William “Duke” Rayner, according to Rolling Stone, who introduced her to producer Shelby Singleton J. by Mercury Records. To his surprise Singleton insisted on singing country. He signed Rayner as manager to a one-year record deal with Singleton.

On August 7, 1970, Martel released her first – and only – album, the 11-song Color Me Country.

Three days after recording the album, she released her single titled ‘Color Him Father’. It changed everything. “Ever since then, I’ve been Linda Martel and I’ve been doing country music,” she told Rolling Stone. In her career in the music industry, which lasted until 1975, she faced discrimination.

4th iMpact Media Group Production is preparing a documentary about Martell’s life and legacy directed by her granddaughter Kia Thompson.

Funds were raised through a GoFundMe campaign to complete the film “Bad Case of The Country Blues: The Linda Martell Story” and promote it to Festivals.

“Country music tells a story,” Linda Martell told Rolling Stone.