For the blues singer from St. Louis, see Bessie Mae Smith.
Bessie Smith
Smith in 1936
Background information
Also known as
Empress of the Blues
Born
(1894-04-15)April 15, 1894 Chattanooga, Tennessee, U.S.
Died
September 26, 1937(1937-09-26) (aged 43) Clarksdale, Mississippi, U.S.
Genres
Classic blues
jazz
Occupation(s)
Singer
actress
Instrument(s)
Vocals
Years active
1912–1937
Labels
Columbia
Okeh
Musical artist
Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an African-American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the "Empress of the Blues", she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, she is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era and was a major influence on fellow blues singers, as well as jazz vocalists.[1]
Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Smith was young when her parents died, and she and her six siblings survived by performing on street corners. She began touring and performed in a group that included Ma Rainey, and then went out on her own. Her successful recording career with Columbia Records began in 1923, but her performing career was cut short by a car crash that killed her at the age of 43.
^"Bessie Smith: Controversy". SparkNotes. October 4, 1937. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
BessieSmith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an African-American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the "Empress of...
pseudonym Bessie Jackson. Music critic Ernest Borneman noted that Bogan was one of "the big three of the blues", along with Ma Rainey and BessieSmith. Many...
The Death of BessieSmith is a one-act play by American playwright Edward Albee, written in 1959 and premiered in West Berlin the following year. The play...
received critical acclaim for her portrayal of blues singer BessieSmith in the HBO film Bessie (2015), which she co-produced, winning the Primetime Emmy...
contemporaries. Clara Smith was not related to the singers BessieSmith and Mamie Smith. Clara Smith was born to parents Selena and William Smith in Spartanburg...
befriended a group of outcasts, one of whom had albums by blues artists BessieSmith, Ma Rainey, and Lead Belly, which Joplin later credited with influencing...
Choice Television Award nomination for playing BessieSmith's sister Viola in the 2015 HBO film Bessie. Khandi Alexander was born in Jacksonville, Florida...
Bessie Coleman (January 26, 1892 – April 30, 1926) was an early American civil aviator. She was the first African-American woman and first self-identified...
time, she met BessieSmith, a young blues singer who was also making a name for herself. A story later developed that Rainey kidnapped Smith, forced her...
Bessie Mae Smith was an American blues singer from St. Louis, who recorded for the Okeh, Vocalion and Paramount record labels under a variety of names...
Dinah Sings BessieSmith is the ninth studio album by blues, R&B and jazz singer Dinah Washington released on the Emarcy label, and reissued by Verve Records...
Mo'Nique, and Khandi Alexander in the HBO biographical film Bessie about the blues singer BessieSmith that premiered in 2015. Sumpter played a young Michelle...
Little Sugar in My Bowl" is a dirty blues song first recorded in 1931 by BessieSmith and released by Columbia Records. It was written by Clarence Williams...
Five, Sidney Bechet, and blues singers Alberta Hunter, Ma Rainey, and BessieSmith. In 1925, Armstrong returned to Chicago largely at the insistence of...
small jazz ensembles and were the first blues to be recorded. Ma Rainey, BessieSmith, Ethel Waters, and the other singers in this genre were instrumental...
singers BessieSmith and Memphis Minnie, whom she deeply admired, helped develop her singing talent. "I just started hearing the blues of BessieSmith, well...
1920s, among them "the big three"—Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, BessieSmith, and Lucille Bogan. Mamie Smith, more a vaudeville performer than a blues artist, was...
1920s saw the emergence of many famous women musicians, including BessieSmith. BessieSmith also gained attention because she was not only a great singer...
Around this time, she first heard the records of Louis Armstrong and BessieSmith. In particular, Holiday cited "West End Blues" as an intriguing influence...
transgender man. In 1997, Kay published a biography of blues singer BessieSmith; it was reissued in 2021. An abridged version read by the author featured...
Salutes BessieSmith is the second album by American pianist Amina Claudine Myers, recorded in 1980 for the Leo label. The AllMusic review by Michael G...
her on-stage portrayals of BessieSmith and Billie Holiday. Braden, who is originally from Detroit, originated the BessieSmith role and has been performing...
essayist and journalist BessieSmith (1894–1937), American blues singer Bessie Stringfield (1911–1993), American motorcyclist Bessie Potter Vonnoh (1872–1955)...
influenced by musician-composer Thomas Dorsey and blues singer BessieSmith, adapting Smith's style to traditional Protestant hymns and contemporary songs...
Global Information