Marie Adams (October 19, 1925 – February 23, 1998) was an American gospel and R&B singer, who became popular in the 1950s particularly for her work with Johnny Otis.
She was born Ollie Marie Givens in Linden, Texas, and when young sang in gospel groups. After marrying, she began performing in Houston as Ollie Marie Adams, later dropping her first name. She made her first recordings for Don Robey's Peacock Records, with Bill Harvey's band. Her single "I'm Gonna Play the Honky Tonks" coupled with "My Search Is Over", with the writing of both songs credited to Robey, reached number 3 on the Billboard R&B chart in mid-1952, becoming the most successful record on Peacock at that point. In all, she released seven singles on Peacock including a cover version of her label-mate Johnny Ace's "My Song".
Adams toured widely in the early 1950s on shows featuring Johnny Ace, Jimmy Forrest, B.B. King, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, and Lloyd Price. In 1953, she joined the Johnny Otis band as a featured singer, and moved to Los Angeles. After Johnny Ace's death, she recorded the tribute song, "In Memory", which was regularly played by radio DJ Alan Freed but failed to chart. She toured with Johnny Otis through much of the 1950s, and became a popular live performer, being known as "TV Mama" in recognition of her "wide screen" girth. As a mainstay of the Johnny Otis Revue, she recruited sisters Sadie and Francine McKinley to form The Three Tons of Joy, considered "an appropriate name as the three women weighed around 800 pounds together."
In 1957, Johnny Otis signed to Capitol Records. The label released four singles in Otis' name simultaneously, including "Ma! He's Making Eyes at Me". This was overdubbed with audience reaction noises, and was credited to Johnny Otis and his Orchestra, with Marie Adams and The Three Tons of Joy.
Although the record did not make the charts in the US, it was released in the UK and rose to number 2 on the UK Singles Chart in early 1958. To follow up its success, Adams and Otis recorded a duet, "Bye Bye Baby", which reached number 20 in Britain. However, other recordings by Adams with Otis, including their version of "What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?" (covered in Britain by Emile Ford and the Checkmates) were less commercially successful, and in early 1960 Adams and the Three Tons of Joy left the Johnny Otis Show.
Marie Adams and the Three Tons of Joy continued to work in and around Los Angeles. Marie did two solo sessions for small L.A. labels (Sure Play, Encore Artists) in 1962-63. The resulting records went unnoticed. In 1958 there had been attempts to make arrangements for a Johnny Otis tour of the United Kingdom. Unfortunately the draconian rulings then applied to work permits for musicians prevented any chance of a British visit. But in the summer of 1972 Johnny Otis finally visited the UK, with Marie Adams back in the fold. The visit was a triumph for both Otis and Adams. She remained with Johnny Otis for most of the 1970s and then drifted into obscurity. It is unclear how she spent the last two decades of her life, which ended in Houston, Texas, on February 23, 1998. She was 72.
Marie Adams made enough recordings for Peacock (18) to fill a whole CD, but at present (June 2012) such a release does not exist. "I'm Gonna Play the Honky Tonks" is available on several compilations and "I'm Gonna Latch On" was included on the 2-CD Various artists release "Men Are Like Streetcars" (1999), but that's about it where the Peacock material is concerned. Ace Records in the UK released the 26-track CD "The Greatest Johnny Otis Show" in 1998, annotated by Stuart Colman (Ace CDCHD 673). It features eight Capitol tracks by Marie. Three live tracks from a 1958 TV show are available on the CD "The Johnny Otis Show" (Ace 981, 2003). A more recent Ace compilation, "The Johnny Otis Story : Midnight At the Barrelhouse, Vol. 1 1945-57" (2011), has "Ma" and "Bye Bye Baby" among its 25 tracks.