Before getting into the actual post, I want to thank Max at PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture: An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture for so graciously agreeing to be a guest writer today. Max was at liberty to choose any Woman Musician to write about and he chose the exceptionally talented singer, Bessie Smith.
I don’t want no drummer.
I set the tempo.
I got into Bessie Smith from listening to Janis Joplin and reading about her. Bessie’s voice sends chills up my spine…that is my litmus test. Whatever she sings…she sings it, means it, she lived it. The sound of the record and her voice is just unbeatable. Yes, we have digital now but digital could not give you this sound. If you are not familiar with her…do yourself a favor and check her out. We cannot forget the pioneers of any genre. Artists like Mahalia Jackson, Janis Joplin, and Norah Jones have all given Bessie Smith credit as their inspiration.
I can imagine Dorothy Parker, Charlie Chaplin, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Clara Bow all listening to this in the 20s and 30s. Bessie Smith was known as the “Empress of the Blues.”
Early Life:
She was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on April 15, 1894. She lost her dad while she was an infant and her mom when she was 7-8 years old. She was raised by her tough older sister. They nearly starved. For money, her sister took in laundry. Bessie would start contributing.
Musical Beginnings:
To help support her orphaned siblings, Bessie began her career as a Chattanooga Street musician and singing at churches, singing in a duo with her brother Andrew to earn money to support their poor family. At age 16 she met a blues singer by the name of Ma Rainey and started to travel with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, a variety show that toured the south and Midwest. She would send money home to her siblings and became an excellent singer. At age 24 she went solo by touring with other traveling shows. She talked tough and could get rough if you messed with her. She understood blues so well because she was living it.
Bessie signed with Columbia Records in 1923. Within 10 months of signing Smith, the Columbia label sold two million records. Over the next four years, her sales reached six million. But she sang a wider repertoire than most, in her traveling tent show, on theatrical tours, and, later, in jazz clubs. The blues made Smith the highest-paid black entertainer of her era ($2000 a week), but she was just as adept at singing show tunes and more popular Tin Pan Alley songs, which became the basis of many early jazz standards. Those record sales don’t sound as high now but remember this was in the 1920s with only a few marketing tools on hand.
She is credited with recording more than 160 songs between 1923 and 1933. Smith performed on stage throughout the southern United States and recorded with such jazz greats as Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, and Coleman Hawkins.
On September 26, 1937, Smith was severely injured in a car accident while traveling from a concert in Memphis to Clarksdale, Mississippi, with her companion Richard Morgan. She was taken to a hospital, where she died. More than 5,000 people attended her funeral. Her grave had no headstone. There was money for a headstone apparently, but her estranged husband spent it on something or someone else.
By the time of her death, Bessie was known around the world appearing with the best players of the day at theaters coast to coast. Bessie’s voice and showmanship drove her from poverty to international fame as a singer of blues tunes, many of which she wrote and co-wrote.
Discography:
This is a partial list because they did not have albums at that time. The list of everything she released would take a post by itself.
1923 – Downhearted Blues #1
1923 – Gulf Coast Blues #5
1923 – Aggravatin’ Papa #12
1923 – Baby Won’t You Please Come Home #6
1923 – T’aint Nobody’s Biz-Ness If I Do #9
1925 – The St. Louis Blues #3
1925 – Careless Love Blues #5
1925 – I Ain’t Gonna Play No Second Fiddle #8
1926 – I Ain’t Got Nobody #8
1926 – Lost Your Head Blues #5
1927 – After You’ve Gone #7
1927 – Alexander’s Ragtime Band #17
1928 – A Good Man Is Hard To Fine #13
1928 – Empty Bed Blues #20
1929 – Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out #15
Filmography:
Saint Louis Blues 1929
Some things to share:
Janis Joplin helped buy Smith’s headstone in 1971…two weeks before her own untimely death. But the real story was the other person who helped buy the stone. That was Juanita Green… a little girl whom Smith once told to give up singing and stay in school.
Bessie Smith has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, winning posthumous awards for her 1923 single “Downhearted Blues,” 1925 single “St. Louis Blues” with Louis Armstrong, and a 1928 single “Empty Bed Blues.” Smith has also been honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Blues Hall of Fame, and the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.
Tao Talk 
she’s a real powerhouse! her vocals are amazing!
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Yes, she is! And yes, they are! Max picked a Star!
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Great post on an important figure in Blues History. I have been talking about Bessie and Ma Rainey and other women from that time since my first blog post in 2018. So, I thank-you for posting this Lisa and Max. It is quite remarkable how many now legendary Blues singers/musicians were buried in unmarked graves. Especially odd in Smiths case as there was a concert (actually two performances) honoring her memory at Carnegie Hall in 1939/40. Yet no one thought to ensure her resting place was marked. I do believe her gravestone was erected in October of 1970, just a couple weeks after Janis Joplin died on Oct. 4.
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Randy, I appreciate you liberally covering female musical artists. It is important! Max’ post suggests her husband decided to spend the money on himself instead of ensuring his wife had a final resting place. My brothers and sister made that same decision when it came to burying my mother (and stepfather.)
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Oh dear that’s personal for you then. Yes that’s my understanding of what happened in Bessie’s case and Sister Rosetta Tharpe as well.
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:(
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Thank you Randy. She had such a great voice. I could have picked any song but this one is probably my favorite of hers.
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Lots like there Max, great choice.
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It must be Bessie Smith Day. She deserves it. Yours is the second post I’ve seen this morning featuring “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out”.
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Steve, today for Bessie’s post was totally random, but I’m glad she got double recognition. Very awesome.
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Such a inspirational singer
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Her voice wiggles right into one’s soul. Imagining seeing/hearing her live would be the experience of a lifetime. Adding her to my TMBL (Time Machine Bucket List.)
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I didn’t realize she died at such a young age. She left an enduring legacy. Such purity in her voice. (K)
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Purity is a perfect word for her voice.
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Excellent pick – and, wow, what a voice! And what a background story!
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Thanks Christian…
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Max!!! :-)
Hope your work week wasn’t too nutty!
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I’m working now but taking a few minutes out! I’ll be back tomorrow and Sunday hopefully. I do miss everyone.
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And we miss you!
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And I miss you all also! I had to turn Ron down tonight talking because of work…I’ll be back tomorrow and Sunday!
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Wow, Max. Makes me wonder what kind of big task is going on at your workplace!
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Setting up a phone system for one of his businesses…we use Microsoft Teams for our office and restaurant phones…this other place is a Winery he owns. We are sending the phones there…but we are configuring Microsoft and getting the numbers over.
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For sure!
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Thank you Lisa for posting this! I’m glad you are getting some good comments. I knew she was great when Janis said she was great…and Joplin wasn’t wrong!
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Ah, there you are, Max! Thanks again for your wonderful write-up on the lovely Bessie Smith.
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Thank you Lisa…you got a good turn out for this…I should publish my Bessie Smith posts on your blog!
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That would be awesome! You can email me what that looks like?
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I’m confused Lisa…but that is nothing new!
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How many posts do you have? How often are you thinking you want them posted? I’m on break for the most part this month so April would be a good time to start. That kind of stuff.
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Well I don’t have another Smith post but I do have a female artist that I don’t normally post…a 90s pop one that after I wrote it up…I thought didn’t fit me too well. I wrote it a long time ago and kept pushing it back.
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Oh OK I think I totally misunderstood what you said. Nevermind :)
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But I was serious about the reply! I just dont’ know if you like her.
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I like what I’ve heard so far, but not familiar enough to say more than that.
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I’ll email you today or tomorrow if that is cool.
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Sure!
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$2000 per week still sounds quite good now.
”Yes, we have digital now but digital could not give you this sound.”
Absolutely right!
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Bessie was amazing!! What a voice. Nice to see Max floating around spreading musical memories
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I like what I’m hearing of Bessie. And yes, Max is a prince for writing this piece on her up for Women Music March :)
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