Bessie Smith

Bessie Smith

The Empress of the Blues

No time to marry, no time to settle down;
I'm a young woman, and I ain't done runnin' around.
- Bessie Smith

Bessie Smith was one of the greatest blues vocalists of all time. She was born "Elizabeth Smith" on April 15, 1898, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She died September 26, 1937, in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

Ms. Smith's first public performance may have been at age eight in the Ivory Theatre in her hometown. An early blues singer celebrity, "Ma" Rainey, discovered Ms. Smith in about 1919 and started her training. She gained skill by performing live through the south.

In February 1923, Ms. Smith made her first recordings, including the classic "Down Hearted Blues," which became an enormous success, selling more than two million copies. She made 160 recordings in all, in many of which she was accompanied by some of the great jazz musicians of the time, including Fletcher Henderson, Benny Goodman, and Louis Armstrong.

Bessie Smith's subject matter was the classic material of the blues: poverty and oppression, love-betrayed or unrequited-and stoic acceptance of defeat at the hands of a cruel and indifferent world. Known in her lifetime as the "Empress of the Blues," Smith was a bold, supremely confident artist who often disdained the use of a microphone. Her art expressed the frustrations and hopes of a whole generation of black Americans.

A movie made in 1929, "Saint Louis Blues," documented her tall figure, upright stance and her handsome features. At the time of its release, the movie was banned. Today, it is preserved in the Museum of Modern Art, New York City.

Ms. Smith died from injuries sustained in a road accident. In the opinion of many, had Ms White been white, she would have received earlier medical treatment, saving her life. In 1960, Edward Albee made this opinion the subject of his play "The Death of Bessie Smith."

I'd like to give a great big thank you to Mr. Mehle for putting together this information, you go above and beyond every day!