Bessie Smith was born April 15, 1894 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Raised in poverty she run away from home as a teenager and joined a travelling show as a dancer. In 1912 she started her singing career in the same show as blues vocalist Ma Rainey. Rainey was the one who coached her a few years later, 1920 Smith already had her own show in Atlantic City and in 1923 she moved to New York where she signed by Columbia.
Once she started recording, her career really took off and her first recording – "Down Hearted Blues" – was a big success. For her upcoming recordings she also used many top musicians as sidemen such as Louis Armstrong, Joe Smith (her favorite cornetist), James P. Johnson and Charlie Green.
Bessie Smith was the first major blues and jazz singer on record and one of the most powerful of all times. That must be the reason she earned the title of "The Empress of the Blues".
However, by 1929 the blues was out-of-fashion and Bessie Smith's career began to flounder. In 1933 she made her final recording with John Hammond.
Bessie Smith's talent was to deliver her songs with such an emotion as she knew firsthand about struggle and heartbreak. Her first husband died and her second marriage was a unhappy union. Beside that she also battled a problem of alcohol.
Planning and working on a comeback, Smith died on September 26, 1937, in a car accident. After her death her music still lived on an continued to win over new fans.
I've lived a life
but nothin' I've gained.
Each day I'm full
of sorrow and pain.
No one seems to care
enough for me
to give me a word
of sympathy.
Oh, me! Oh, my!
Wonder what will
the end be?
Oh, me! Oh, my!
Wonder what will
become of poor me?
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