Thomas Henry Delaney was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He spent his childhood in orphanages, including the Jenkins Orphanage in Charleston, where he got his first experience of music and formed the Springfield Minstrels. He later toured the East Coast in a song and dance duo billed as Mitchell and Delaney. One of Delaney's earliest compositions, "Jazz Me Blues", published in 1921, became one of his more durable works. Lucille Hegamin recorded it that year and it went on to become a jazz standard. In the same year, "The Down Home Blues", recorded by Ethel Waters with Delaney accompanying on the piano, became her first hit. It reached number 5 on the U.S. chart. Delaney also became Waters's manager. His 1923 composition "Sinful Blues" was one of several of Delaney's that became under the influence of the record producer and publicist Joe Davis. Consequently, many subsequent recordings list Perry Bradford as the songwriter, although Delaney did remain the accredited composer for Maggie Jones's "If I Lose, Let Me Lose " and Clara Smith's "Troublesome Blues". Helen Gross's 1924 rendition of Delaney's "I Wanna Jazz Some More" became more notable for his rhyming lyric "Miss Susan Green from New Orleans." A number of Delaney's songs were not published at all, such as "Goopher Dust Blues" and "Grievin' Mama." His "All the Girls Like Big Dick" was too risque a title for release in the 1920s, despite a loosening of morals in that period, but was published by Davis in the 1950s. In 1929, Delaney composed "Down on Pennsylvania Avenue", with the lyrics "Now if you want good lovin' and want it cheap, just drop around about the middle of the week, when the broad is broke and can't pay rent, get good lovin' boys, for 15 cents." It was one of only four songs recorded by Bertha Idaho. There is some confusion about whether Delaney or Clarence Williams provided the piano accompaniment on Idaho's recordings. Delaney's own recorded work amounts to two singles, both recorded in New York and released by Columbia Records in 1922: "Bow Legged Mama" backed with "Parson Jones " and "I'm Leavin' Just to Ease My Worried Mind" backed with "Georgia Stockade Blues". Delaney's version of his song "Georgia Stockade Blues" is included on the 1999 compilation albumBroke, Black and Blue: An Anthology of Blues Classics and Rarities.
