The Case of Mary Jones and Lavelle Hardy

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Mary Jones and Lavelle Hardy were arrested at O'Calla's Club Valley Nightclub as they were getting ready for a show. Mary Jones said she wasn't trying to make people believe she was Aretha Franklin saying quote, I'm not her. They were both taken to the station, fingerprinted, thrown in the cells. One local paper published an article with the headline, Phoney Soul Sister Found Out. The High Hat Club owner said some people who'd seen Aretha before said that that wasn't her,. But nobody was real sure and nobody asked for their money back.

Mary Jones could sing just like Aretha Franklin. One night, a James Brown impersonator saw her perform at a Motown tribute show - and thought he could take her on tour and trick audiences into believing she was the real Queen of Soul. Jeff Maysh tells the story.

Learn more in Jeff Maysh’s piece for Smithsonian Magazine, “The Counterfeit Queen of Soul.”

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