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Engraved portrait of Bessie Smith
Music · 1920s

Bessie Smith

In memoriam 1894–1937

“The Empress of the Blues, whose powerful voice and tragic life shaped American popular music.”

Elizabeth Smith, April 15, 1892, Chattanooga, TennesseeBorn
September 26, 1937, near Clarksdale, Mississippi (age 45)Died
Empress of the BluesNickname
About 160 tracks for Columbia and OKeh, 1923-1933Recordings
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1989Honor
The Turning Point

In 1923 Columbia Records released her debut single 'Downhearted Blues,' which sold over half a million copies in its first year and made the 31-year-old a national sensation. The record crowned her the 'Empress of the Blues' and the highest-paid Black entertainer of the decade. She became a star in 1923.

Bessie Smith photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1936
Bessie Smith photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1936

From Street Corners to Stardom

Orphaned young, Bessie Smith sang on Chattanooga streets for coins with her guitar-playing brother. She toured in tent shows alongside mentor Ma Rainey before striking out on her own.

The Empress of the Blues

Her 1923 debut for Columbia was a runaway hit, and her powerful, unamplified voice could fill a tent without a microphone. Through the 1920s she became the highest-paid Black entertainer in America, touring in her own railroad car.

Legacy

The Depression and changing tastes eroded her recording career, and she died after a car crash in 1937. Her influence runs through Billie Holiday, Mahalia Jackson and Janis Joplin, and she entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.

Career Timeline

  1. 1892Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, into deep poverty
  2. 1906Orphaned; sings on Chattanooga streets with brother
  3. 1912Tours in troupe that includes Ma Rainey
  4. 1923Debut 'Downhearted Blues' sells over 500,000 copies
  5. 1923Marries Jack Gee as first record is released
  6. 1925Records 'St. Louis Blues' with Louis Armstrong
  7. 1927Becomes highest-paid Black entertainer of her era
  8. 1929Stars in only film, the two-reeler 'St. Louis Blues'
  9. 1933Final recording session, produced by John Hammond
  10. 1937Dies at 45 after a car crash in Mississippi
  11. 1970Janis Joplin helps fund her gravestone
  12. 1989Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Biggest Hits

1923
Downhearted BluesDebut single sold over 500,000 copies in first year
1923
Gulf Coast BluesB-side of debut; both sides became hits
1925
St. Louis BluesRecorded with Louis Armstrong on cornet
1929
Nobody Knows You When You're Down and OutDepression-era anthem, among her most covered
1928
Empty Bed BluesRisque double-entendre two-part recording
1927
Backwater BluesInspired by Mississippi flooding disasters
Did You Know
  • Her grave near Philadelphia lay unmarked for over 30 years until Janis Joplin and Juanita Green paid for a headstone in 1970.
  • She made just one film, the 1929 two-reeler 'St. Louis Blues,' which preserves the only footage of her performing.

The Moment You Remember

Her 1925 recording of <em>St. Louis Blues</em>, with Louis Armstrong's cornet answering her voice phrase by phrase, remains one of the defining performances of the classic blues era.

Portrait: Carl Van Vechten (restored by Adam Cuerden) · Public domain (no known copyright restrictions) · via Wikimedia Commons

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