Bessie Smith

Bessie Smith was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee on April 15, 1894 and was an American blues singer. For her enormous popularity and skill, Bessie was named "The Empress of the Blues" and was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930's. To earn money, Bessie and her brother Andrew began singing on the streets of Chattanooga where most of the African American's lived and frequented. Also known for being a hard drinker, she spent several years working out of Atlanta, Georgia's 81 Theater around 1913, and performing in black theaters along the East Coast. During the early 1920's, Smith became the biggest headliner on the black Theater Owners Booking Association circuit. Her show sometimes featured as many as 40 troupers which made her the highest-paid black entertainer of her day. She signed to Columbia Records and made some 160 recordings for Columbia, often accompanied by the finest musicians of the day, most notably Louis Armstrong and a host of other jazz and blues musicians. She continued to perform until her death On September 26, 1937. Smith was critically injured in a car accident while traveling along U.S. Route 61 between Memphis, Tennessee, and Clarksdale, Mississippi. Reports from that accident state that Bessie's right arm was nearly severed at the elbow, as she lay in the middle of the street losing large amounts of blood.(1937 medical care surely couldn't treat injuries as severe. Bessie is still known today as being an innovator and creator of early black music.

Bessie Smith, pioneer of the "Blues".



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