Bessie Smith

Bessie Smith “Emperess of the Blues” (1884-1937) was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She met her coach and mentor Ma Rainey at a show they both performed in 1912, and by 1920 she played her own show in Atlantic City. Bessie moved to New York in 1923 and was soon signed by Columbia. The first recording of Aberta Hunter’s “DownHearted Blues” brought her fame. She was the first blues/jazz singer recorded. Her voice transcended the scratchy records of the time and was powerful and moving to listeners. She played with Louis Armstrong, Joe Smith, James P. Johnson, Charlie Green, and also performed in the summer tent shows Harlem Frolics, 1925 -1927, and Missisippi Days in 1928. By 1929, the Blues was no longer considered popular music and this was about to put her career in decline. But that same year, she appeared in “St. Louis Blues”, a seventeen minute low budget movie, and recorded “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out.”

In 1931 Columbia dropped her. This did not stop Bessie from recording and performing and she continued with a four song session in 1933. She sang with Fletcher Henderson in New York, substituted for Billie Holiday in 1935 “Stars over Broadway”, and played at the Apollo Theatre. Sadly, the new upswing in her career did not blossom it should have when she was killed in a car crash in Missisippi. Bessie will always be remembered as one of the greatest and most influential singers of all time.

Songs
St. Louis Blues