Home → Overview → Blues Artists → Bessie Smith

Bessie Smith (1894-1937)

"Empress of the Blues"

Bessie Smith (July 9, 1892 or April 15, 1894 — September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer. For the 1900 census, Bessie Smith's mother, Laura Smith, reported that Bessie was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee in July 1892. She was the daughter of Laura (Owens) Smith and William Smith. William Smith was a laborer and part-time Baptist preacher, who died before his daughter could remember him. By the time she was nine, she had lost her mother as well, and her older sister Viola was left in charge of caring for her sisters and brothers. As a way of earning money for their impoverished household, Smith and her brother Andrew began performing on the streets of Chattanooga as a duo, she singing and dancing, he accompanying on guitar; their preferred location was in front of the White Elephant Saloon at Thirteenth and Elm streets in the heart of the city's African-American community. In 1904, her oldest brother, Clarence, covertly left home by joining a small traveling troupe owned by Moses Stokes. In 1912, Clarence returned to Chattanooga with the Stokes troupe and arranged for its managers, Lonnie and Cora Fisher, to give her an audition. She was hired as a dancer rather than a singer, because the company also included Ma Rainey. By the early 1920s, Smith had starred with Sidney Bechet in How Come?, a musical that made its way to Broadway, and spent several years working out of Atlanta, Georgia's 81 Theater, performing in black theaters along the East Coast. Following a run-in with the producer of How Come?, she was replaced by Alberta Hunter and returned to Philadelphia, where she had taken up residence. There, she met and fell in love with Jack Gee, a security guard whom she married on June 7, 1923, just as her first recordings were being released by Columbia Records. The marriage was a stormy one, with infidelity on both sides. All contemporary accounts indicate that Ma Rainey did not teach Smith to sing, but she probably helped her develop a stage presence. Smith began forming her own act around 1913, at Atlanta's "81 Theatre. By 1920 she had established a reputation in the South and along the Eastern Seaboard. In 1920, sales figures for Crazy Blues, an Okeh recording by singer Mamie Smith (no relation) pointed to a new market. The recording industry had never aimed its product at blacks, but now the door had been opened and the search for female blues singers was on. Smith was signed by Columbia Records in 1923 when the label decided to establish a race records series. She scored a big hit with her first release, a coupling of Gulf Coast Blues and Downhearted Blues, which its composer, Alberta Hunter had already turned into a hit on the Paramount label. Smith became a headliner on the black T.O.B.A. circuit and rose to become its top attraction in the 1920s. Working a heavy theater schedule during the winter months and doing tent tours the rest of the year, Smith became the highest-paid black entertainer of her day. She made some 160 recordings for Columbia, often accompanied by the finest musicians of the day, most notably Louis Armstrong, James P. Johnson, Joe Smith, Charlie Green, and Fletcher Henderson. Smith's career was cut short by a combination of the Great Depression and the advent of talkies, which spelled the end for vaudeville. She never stopped performing, however. While the days of elaborate vaudeville shows were over, Smith continued touring and occasionally singing in clubs. In 1929, Smith made her only film appearance, starring in a two-reeler titled St. Louis Blues, based on W. C. Handy's song of the same name. In the film, she sings the title song accompanied by members of Fletcher Henderson's orchestra, the Hall Johnson Choir, pianist James P. Johnson, and a string section — a musical environment radically different from any found on her recordings. In 1933, John Hammond saw Smith perform in a small Philadelphia club and asked her to record four sides for the Okeh label. These performances, were recorded on November 24, 1933. They constitute Smith's final recordings and are of particular interest because Smith was in the process of translating her blues artistry into something more apropos to the Swing Era. On September 26, 1937, Smith was severely injured in a car accident. She was taken to Clarksdale's Afro-American Hospital where her right arm was amputated. She did not regain consciousness, dying that morning. (quoted from wikipedia.org)

Blues Search Engine

Home
Overview
Booking Agencies
Blues Artists
→  Bessie Smith
Blues Societies
Blues Directories, Portals
Blues in General
Blues Live on Stage
Learn to Play the Blues
Blues and Science
Record Companies
Search Page
Submit a Site
Contact
Your Own Search Engine
Bookmark This Site!

Artist Title Song Soundtrack Label

Artist Song Name Composer Composition Instrument

Home → Overview → Blues Artists → Bessie Smith