Bessie Smith - Memphis School

Born on April 15, 1894, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Bessie Smithwas one of ten children. Both of her parents had died by her eighthbirthday, and she was raised by her older sister Viola and encouragedto sing and dance by her oldest brother Clarence. He soon joined theMoses Stokes traveling show, leaving Smith and their brother Andrewto sing for pennies on Chattanooga street corners.

Clarence later arranged an audition for Smith with the Moses StokesCompany and she was hired as a dancer in 1912. She becamefriends with an older Moses Stokes veteran, Gertrude "Ma" Rainey,who was called the Mother of the Blues and likely exercised someinfluence over the young singer. Smith had her own voice, however,and owed her success to no one. Her heavy, throaty vocals werebalanced by a delightful sense of timing. Her live shows were a blendof comedy and drama in song. Smith was popular in Philadelphia,New York, and Baltimore, but she was beloved in the South. In 1923,

her vaudeville touring led her to Memphis, where she played packed houses at the Palace Theateron Beale Street.

On February 16, 1923, Smith recorded "Gulf Coast Blues" and "Down Hearted Blues," accompaniedby Clarence Williams on piano. Although recorded by Memphis singer Alberta Hunter a year before,Smith's "Down Hearted Blues" sold more than 780,000 copies in six months. Her sales made her ablues star on par with Mamie Smith (no relation), a vaudeville singer who had ignited the racerecords market with her 1920 recording "Crazy Blues."

Although Smith recorded extensively for Columbia - nearly 160 songs between 1923 and her lastsession in 1933 - her live performances were equally successful. During the 1920s she commandedfees of $2,000 a week and played sold-out theaters across the South, North, and Midwest. Herstage success influenced women blues singers like Memphis Minnie, but male blues singers likeLeadbelly, who only heard her on record, emulated her too. She recorded with the best jazzsidemen, including pianists Fletcher Henderson and James P. Johnson, clarinetists Benny Goodmanand Buster Bailey, guitarist Eddie Lang, saxophonists Coleman Hawkins and Don Redman, andcornetist Louis Armstrong. In May 1925, she made the first electronically recorded record, "CakeWalking Babies," by singing into the newly invented microphone.

During the Depression of the 1930s, Smith's drawing power in the large cities of the North andMidwest began to wane, but she remained popular in small towns and throughout the South. FurryLewis proudly recalled playing with Smith in Chicago during the 1930s. She even made an earlymovie when W.C. Handy asked her to play the lead in a short film called "St. Louis Blues" looselybased on his song. On Sept. 26, 1937, after finishing a performance in Memphis, Smith and hermanager were driving south on Highway 61, north of the Crossroads in Clarksdale, Mississippi,when their car struck an oncoming truck. The crash nearly severed Smith's right arm. She wastaken to G.T. Thomas Hospital (now the Riverside Hotel) in Clarksdale where she died the followingmorning.

Bessie Smith is buried in Mount Lawn Cemetery in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania.

Humanities 1 Blues Music 2

http://www.cr.nps.gov/delta/blues/people/bessie_smith.htm [1/27/2014]