This page contains Bessie Smith songs, albums and video links. Music profile for Bessie Smith with events, tracks, videos, pictures, lyrics and band information.
Bessie Smith (July, 1892 or April, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an United States|American blues singer.
The most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and '30s,<ref>{{cite book |last=Jasen |first=David A. |coauthors=Gene Jones |title=Spreadin' Rhythm Around: Black Popular Songwriters, 1880-1930 |publisher=Schirmer Books |date=1998 |pages=pp. 289 |month=September |isbn=978-0028647425</ref>. Smith is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era, and along with Louis Armstrong, a major influence on subsequent jazz vocalists.
Life
For the 1900 United States Census|census, Bessie Smith's mother, Laura Smith, reported that Bessie was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee in July, 1892. However, for the following census (1910), her sister, Viola Smith, reported the date as April 15, 1894; that date appears on all subsequent documents, is more plausible, and was the one observed by the entire Smith family. There also remains a census-based debate regarding the size of Bessie Smith's family. The 1870 and 1880 censuses report three older half-siblings, but the 1900 census reports data that is at odds with the recollections of her family and contemporaries.
That she was the daughter of Laura (Owens) Smith and William Smith is not in dispute. William Smith was a laborer and part-time Baptist preacher (he was listed in the 1870 census a... read all
Wc Handy Composer Songwriter Musician Bandleader
2008 0310d0128
Quotempress Of The Bluesquot
Ma Rainey And Her Band
Marainey
Clara Smith Blues Singer
4 Entertainers
Blues Legends L W And Others On Flickr
Bessie Smith Jazz And Blues Singer
The Tracks
Bessie Smith The Worlds Greatest Blues Singer
Bessie Smith
Jazz Singers
