Shonka Dukure, who made her Hollywood debut as the famous blues singer Big Mama Thornton in the new Baz Luhrmann movie “Elvis,” was found dead in Nashville on Thursday. She was 44 years old.
The Metropolitan Nashville police station confirmed the death, but did not provide a cause, saying that the fraudulent play was not apparent. According to police, one of Ducre’s two young children noticed she was unresponsive in her bedroom Thursday morning to warn her neighbor who called her 911. I ran to.
The long-awaited movie about Elvis Presley’s life was released in June, with “Elvis”, Austin Butler as the title role, and Tom Hanks as Presley’s manager, Tom Parker. Big Mama Thornton, who recorded the original version of “Hound Dog” in 1952, a year before Presley’s hit, was Ducre’s first major acting role. At Thornton, she found a role in merging her vibrant voice with her apparently emerging acting chops.
The production of her “Hound Dog” especially fascinated the audience. She was planning to release a studio album titled “The Lady Sings the Blues”. Her website..
Dukureh said he was from Nashville, “via Charlotte, North Carolina,” born on September 3, 1977. He initially planned to be a teacher, and he earned a master’s degree in education from Trebeckana Zaren University in Nashville. She goes to her website (she also says she has a bachelor’s degree in theater from Fisk University, also in Nashville). She pursued art instead. Her powerful voice was heard on an international tour with Jamie Lidell and Royal Pharaoh, and she was a vocalist featured on several albums.
Her performance at “Elvis” quickly gained fans. Among them, her fellow cast member. Olivia Dejon, who played Priscilla Presley in the movie, Talked to Entertainment Weekly It was “a spiritual experience” to see Mr. Doucre.
“It was just a matter of being free to use something like her, seeing the stars born in essence. It was insane to see,” said Dejonge.
Information on survivors was not immediately available.