Bessie Smith (April 15, 1892 – September 26, 1937) was an African-American blues singer who became well-known during the Jazz Age. She was called the "Empress of the Blues" and was once known as Queen of the Blues. She was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. In 1989, she was added to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Many people believe she was one of the greatest singers of her time, and she influenced other blues singers and jazz vocalists.

Bessie was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She lost her parents when she was young, and she and her six siblings earned money by performing on street corners. She started touring with a group that included Ma Rainey and later performed on her own. Her recording career with Columbia Records began in 1923. Her performing career ended when she was killed in a car crash at the age of 45.

Biography

The 1900 census shows that Bessie Smith’s family listed her birthplace as Chattanooga, Tennessee, in July 1892. The 1910 census states she was 16 years old and born on April 15, 1894, a date later used by her family and found on other documents. The 1870 and 1880 censuses mention several older siblings or half-siblings.

Bessie was the daughter of Laura and William Smith, a laborer and part-time Baptist preacher. In the 1870 census, William was listed as a "minister of the gospel" in Moulton, Lawrence County, Alabama. He died before Bessie could remember him. By age nine, her mother and a brother had also died, leaving her older sister Viola to care for the remaining children. Because of this, Bessie did not receive an education.

Because of her family’s deaths and poverty, Bessie had a difficult childhood. To help support her family, she and her brother Andrew performed on the streets of Chattanooga. She sang and danced while he played the guitar. They often stood on street corners to ask for money, usually near the White Elephant Saloon at Thirteenth and Elm streets in Chattanooga’s African-American community.

In 1904, Bessie’s oldest brother, Clarence, left home to join a traveling troupe owned by Moses Stokes. Clarence’s wife, Maud, said, “If Bessie had been old enough, she would have gone with him.” Clarence left without telling her, but he believed she was ready. At the time, she was still a child.

In 1912, Clarence returned to Chattanooga with the Stokes troupe and arranged for Bessie to audition with the troupe’s managers, Lonnie and Cora Fisher. Bessie was hired as a dancer, not a singer, because the troupe already included a popular singer named Ma Rainey. Some accounts say Ma Rainey did not teach Bessie to sing but may have helped her learn how to act on stage. Later, Bessie performed in chorus lines and made the "81" Theatre in Atlanta her main performance space. She also performed on the Theater Owners Booking Association (T.O.B.A.) circuit, becoming one of its most popular performers.

Bessie began creating her own performances around 1913 at Atlanta’s "81" Theatre. By 1920, she was well-known in the South and along the East Coast. At that time, the record "Crazy Blues," released by Mamie Smith (no relation), sold over 100,000 copies. This success showed that there was a new market for music by Black artists.

In 1923, Bessie started her recording career. She signed with Columbia Records after Frank Walker, a talent agent who had seen her perform earlier, helped her. Her first recording session was on February 15, 1923, and was conducted by Dan Hornsby, who recorded many Southern musicians. Most of her early recordings were on Columbia’s regular A-series. When the company created a "race records" series, Bessie’s "Cemetery Blues" (September 26, 1923) was the first released. Both sides of her first record, "Downhearted Blues" and "Gulf Coast Blues," were popular. A previous version of "Downhearted Blues" by Alberta Hunter had been released earlier by Paramount Records.

As her fame grew, Bessie became a top performer on the T.O.B.A. circuit and was the most popular Black entertainer of the 1920s. She traveled in a 72-foot-long railroad car and was nicknamed "Queen of the Blues" by Columbia Records. The press later called her "Empress of the Blues." Her music focused on themes of independence, fearlessness, and freedom, showing that working-class women could be respected without changing their behavior.

Despite her success, not everyone accepted Bessie or her music. She auditioned for Black Swan Records, where W.E.B. Du Bois was on the board, but was not hired. She was said to have stopped singing to spit, which the company found too rough. Even her fans, both Black and white, considered her a "rough" woman, meaning working class or "low class."

Bessie had a strong, deep voice that recorded well during her first session, when recordings were made acoustically. Later, electrical recording technology made her voice even more powerful. Her first electrical recording was "Cake Walking Babies [From Home]," made on May 5, 1925. She also performed on radio stations, even in the segregated South. For example, after a concert in Memphis, Tennessee, for a white-only audience, she gave a late-night radio performance on WMC, which was well-received. Musicians like Danny Barker and Tommy Dorsey compared her performances to a preacher because of her ability to move audiences.

Bessie recorded 160 songs for Columbia, often with famous musicians like Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, and Fletcher Henderson. Songs like "Alexander’s Ragtime Band" (1927) became very popular.

Her career ended because of the Great Depression, which hurt the recording industry, and the rise of sound in movies, which ended vaudeville shows. She continued to perform, touring and singing in clubs. In 1929, she appeared in a Broadway play called Pansy, but the play was not successful. Critics said she was the only good part of the show.

In November 1929, Bessie made her only film appearance in St. Louis Blues, based on a song by W.C. Handy. The film, directed by Dudley Murphy, featured her singing the title song with members of Fletcher Henderson’s orchestra, the Hall Johnson Choir, and others.

In 1933, John Henry Hammond, who also helped Billie Holiday, asked Bessie to record four songs for Okeh Records (which had been bought by Columbia in 1925). Hammond claimed he found her in "semi-obscurity" working as a hostess in a Philadelphia speakeasy. However, she was still touring in 1933 and had not worked as a hostess until 1936. Hammond was known for remembering things selectively and adding details.

Bessie was paid $37.50 for each of the four songs she recorded, which were her last recordings. Made on November 24, 1933, these songs show how her style changed to fit the swing era. The music included swing-era artists like Jack Teagarden and Chu Berry. Benny Goodman, who was recording with Ethel Waters at the time, was present during the session.

Personal life

In 1923, Smith was living in Philadelphia when she met Jack Gee, a security guard, who she married on June 7, 1923, around the time her first record was released. During their marriage, Smith became the highest-paid Black entertainer of that time. She led her own shows, which sometimes included up to 40 performers, and traveled in a custom-built railroad car.

During the 1920s and 1930s, African Americans had few choices for hotels or places to gather. To address this need, businesses called Buffet Flats were created by and for African Americans. These places offered expensive food, alcohol, and adult entertainment. Smith visited Buffet Flats with friends, including drag queens and gay men, who saw it as a safe place. Friends said many people paid a lot of money to watch the adult shows there. It has been reported that Smith participated in sexual activities with both men and women, including her longtime friend and lover Ruby Walker, before and during her marriage to Jack Gee.

Smith’s marriage to Gee was difficult, with both partners being unfaithful. Gee admired the money Smith earned but struggled to adjust to life in show business or to her bisexuality. He often left for short periods, and Smith used these times to have affairs, including with her musical director, Fred Longshaw. When Gee discovered her affairs, he physically attacked her, but she quickly stood up and fought back. After learning about one of Gee’s affairs, she took his gun and shot at him. In 1929, when she found out Gee had an affair with another singer, Gertrude Saunders, Smith ended their relationship, though neither sought a divorce.

Later in life, Smith entered a common-law marriage with an old friend, Richard Morgan, who was the uncle of Lionel Hampton. She remained with him until her death.

Musical themes

Songs such as "Jail House Blues," "Work House Blues," "Prison Blues," "Sing Sing Prison Blues," and "Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair" addressed important social issues of the time, including chain gangs, the convict lease system, and capital punishment. Songs like "Poor Man's Blues" and "Washwoman's Blues" are considered by scholars to be early examples of African-American protest music.

After listening to her music and studying her lyrics, it becomes clear that Smith focused on and expressed the experiences of a subculture within the African-American working class. She also included discussions about social problems such as poverty, conflicts within the African-American community, and female sexuality in her songs. Her honest lyrics and public actions were not widely accepted as appropriate for African-American women at the time. Because of this, her work was often dismissed as inappropriate, rather than seen as a true reflection of the African-American experience.

Smith’s music challenged the ideas held by the wealthy by encouraging working-class women to enjoy their right to drink, socialize, and express their sexual desires as a way to deal with stress and unhappiness in their daily lives. She promoted a broader view of African-American womanhood beyond being focused on home life, religious devotion, and following rules. Instead, she supported independence, confidence, and sexual freedom as paths to empowerment and happiness. Although Smith was a powerful voice for many groups and one of the most talented blues performers of her time, the themes in her music were not accepted during her lifetime. However, in later years, these themes became more common in popular music, leading some to believe her work was not deserving of serious recognition.

Smith’s lyrics are often thought to describe her personal life and sexuality. In the song "Prove It On Me," performed by Ma Rainey, Rainey sang, "Went out last night with a crowd of my friends. They must've been women, 'cause I don't like no mens. They say I do it, ain't nobody caught me. Sure got to prove it on me." African American scholars and activists who study LGBTQ+ issues have often looked to Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith as examples of people who challenged traditional ideas about gender during the early 20th-century blues era.

Awards and honors

Three recordings by Smith were added to the Grammy Hall of Fame, an award started in 1973 to recognize recordings that are at least 25 years old and that have "important value in quality or history."

In 2002, Smith's recording of "Downhearted Blues" was added to the National Recording Registry by the National Recording Preservation Board of the Library of Congress. The board picks recordings each year that are "important in culture, history, or art."

"Downhearted Blues" was also listed in the Songs of the Century by the Recording Industry of America and the National Endowment for the Arts in 2001. It was also included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of 500 songs that influenced rock 'n' roll.

The U.S. Postal Service released a 29-cent special stamp to remember Smith in 1994.

In 2019, Time magazine made 89 new covers to honor women of the year starting from 1920. It chose Smith for 1923.

In 2023, Rolling Stone placed Smith at number 33 on their list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.

In pop culture

The 1948 short story "Blue Melody" by J. D. Salinger and the 1959 play The Death of Bessie Smith by Edward Albee are based on the life and death of Bessie Smith. However, both authors used creative freedom in their works. For example, Albee’s play changed the details of her medical treatment before her death, claiming it was due to racist doctors. These stories were widely shared until a later biography by Smith’s biographer showed they were not accurate.

In 1958, Dinah Washington and LaVern Baker released tribute albums honoring Smith. In 1965, Exodus Records released Hoyt Axton Sings Bessie Smith, a collection of her songs performed by folk singer Hoyt Axton.

The song "Bessie Smith" by The Band first appeared on The Basement Tapes in 1975, though it likely dates to 1970–1971. Musician Artie Traum recalled meeting Rick Danko, the song’s co-writer, at Woodstock in 1969, where Danko sang a verse of "Going Down the Road to See Bessie" on the spot.

Smith’s song "See If I’ll Care" was sampled by the band Indian Summer on their self-titled EP released in 1993. Critics praised how the sample contrasted with the post-hardcore and emo styles of the EP. When Indian Summer’s discography was reissued in 2019, Smith and her song gained renewed popularity.

A 1997 biography of Smith by Jackie Kay was reissued in February 2021. It was featured as Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4, with an abridged version read by the author.

In the 2015 HBO film Bessie, Queen Latifah portrays Smith, focusing on her life and personal journey. The film received critical acclaim and won four Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Television Movie.

In the medical show New Amsterdam, season 2, episode 16, the character Reynolds mentions that Bessie Smith’s accident and the myth that she was denied care at a white hospital inspired his treatment plans. The show corrected the fact that Smith had an unmarked grave and highlighted her legacy in blues music.

Each June, the Bessie Smith Cultural Center in Chattanooga hosts the Bessie Smith Strut as part of the city’s Riverbend Festival.

Digital remastering

Technical problems in most of her original gramophone recordings, such as changes in recording speed that made her voice sound higher or lower than it actually was, made it hard to hear how she played the music with different volumes and tones. These issues also changed the musical key of her performances, sometimes by as much as a very small change in pitch. In some master recordings, the center hole was not exactly in the middle of the disc, causing big differences in how the music sounded, including pitch, key, and phrasing, because commercially released records rotated around the spindle.

Because of these past limitations, the 70 LP records and especially the digitally improved versions of her work offer much better sound quality. Some critics think the American Columbia Records CD releases are not as good as the later transfers made by John R. T. Davies for Frog Records.

Discography

Bessie Smith recorded 156 songs for Columbia Records and 4 songs for OKeh Records during her music career from 1923 to 1933. This makes it easier to find all of her music, which was first released in the 1970s as five double albums: The World's Greatest Blues Singer (1970), Any Woman's Blues (1970), Empty Bed Blues (1971), The Empress (1971), and Nobody's Blues But Mine (1972). These recordings were released again on LPs and CDs in the 1990s as The Complete Recordings (Vol. 1–5).

• 1923–24 – The Complete Recordings Vol. 1 (2XLp or CD) (Columbia/Legacy, 1991)
• 1925–25 – The Complete Recordings Vol. 2 (2XLp or CD) (Columbia/Legacy, 1991)
• 1925–28 – The Complete Recordings Vol. 3 (2XLp or CD) (Columbia/Legacy, 1992)
• 1928–31 – The Complete Recordings Vol. 4 (2XLp or CD) (Columbia/Legacy, 1993)
• 1932–33 – The Complete Recordings Vol. 5 (2XLp or CD) (Columbia/Legacy, 1996)
• 1923–33 – The Complete Recordings Vols. 1–8 (8xCD) (Frog, 2001)

First editions in 10 and 122" Lps:
• Bessie Smith Album (Columbia, 1938) – 6 shellac 10" Lp 78 rpm albums
• Empress of the Blues (Columbia, 1940) – shellac 10" Lp 78 rpm album
• Empress of the Blues, Vol. II (Columbia, 1947) – shellac 10" Lp 78 rpm album
• The Bessie Smith Story, in 4 Volumes (Columbia, 1951) – 12" Lp 33 rpm albums

• 1923–33 – The Essential Bessie Smith (2xCD) (Columbia/Legacy, 1997)
• 1923–33 – Empress of the Blues (Giants Of Jazz, 1985)
• 1923–33 – The Collection (Columbia, 1989)
• 1928–33 – Blue Spirit Blues (Drive, 1989)

There was no official national record chart in the US until 1936. Music historian Joel Whitburn later created these rankings.