Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith was one of the most famous performers born in Tennessee.
Her soulful singing and bold delivery earned her the title of “Empress of the Blues.” She was the highest paid African American performer of her day, and reached a level of success greater than any other black entertainer before her.
She was born in Chattanooga in 1894, one of ten children. Both her parents died by the time she was eight years old, so she was raised by her older sister. Her brother taught her how to sing and dance. Soon she had joined her brother and sister dancing on Chattanooga street corners for pennies.
Smith was hired as a dancer with a company in 1912. There she became friends with Gertrude Rainey, called the “Mother of the Blues.” It’s likely that she was influenced in her singing style by Rainey.
Smith was also a talented dancer and comedienne. She became popular in Philadelphia, New York City, and Baltimore. But she was wildly popular in her home state and the rest of the South. In 1923 in Memphis, her shows played to a packed theater on Beale Street.
Columbia Records issued her first record, “Downhearted Blues,” which was very successful. Other recordings followed. Smith composed many of her own songs. When she sang the blues, listeners felt her suffering and courage. Listen to Bessie Smith’s performance of “Downhearted Blues.”
Smith recorded nearly 160 songs for Columbia, but her live performances were even more successful. She received fees of $2,000 a week during the 1920s, a large amount of money for that time. She recorded with the best jazz musicians of the time: Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, James Johnson, and Don Redman.
During the Depression, work and money were not as readily available for Smith, but she continued performing. She even performed in an early film, “St. Louis Blues,” for W.C. Handy. Tragically in 1937, Smith was killed in an automobile accident in Mississippi after a performance in Memphis.
Smith’s influence was felt even after her death as such later performers as Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Aretha Franklin, and Janis Joplin emulated her style of singing blues.
Smith’s version of “Downhearted Blues” was selected for inclusion in the “Songs of the Century” by the Recording Industry of America and the National Endowment for the Arts in 2001, and in the National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress in 2002.
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Picture Credits:
- Photograph of Bessie Smith, obviously taken when she was a young woman. “Trail of the Hellhound: Bessie Smith,” National Park Service.
The Great Depression & WW II >> The Great Depression >> The Arts >> Music
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