Mary Osborne

Mary Osborne (July 17, 1921 – March 4, 1992) was an American jazz electric guitarist.

Osborne was born in Minot, North Dakota. She learned violin as a child and could also play guitar and bass by age 15. She heard Charlie Christian play in Al Trent's band at a stop in Bismarck, North Dakota; Christian became one of her most prominent influences. She went on to tour with Buddy Rogers, Dick Stabile, Terry Shand, Joe Venuti, and Russ Morgan, and recorded with Mary Lou Williams, Beryl Booker, Coleman Hawkins, Mercer Ellington, Ethel Waters, Wynonie Harris, and Billie Holiday. From 1952 to 1960, she was featured on Jack Sterling's CBS radio show. Later in life she only performed occasionally (though she would play jazz festivals into the 1990s) and settled in Bakersfield, California, where she died.