Bessie Smith (jul 9,1892 or apr.15,1894 - sep.26,1937) was Americas most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and '30s.
Smith is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era, and a...
Bessie Smith (jul 9,1892 or apr.15,1894 - sep.26,1937) was Americas most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and '30s.
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.
As a way of earning money for their impoverished household, Smith and her brother Andrew began performing on the streets of Chattanooga as a duo, she singing and dancing, he accompanying on guitar; their preferred location was in front of the White Elephant Saloon at Thirteenth and Elm streets in the heart of the city's African-American community.
In 1904, her oldest brother, Clarence, covertly left home by joining a small traveling troupe owned by Moses Stokes. "If Bessie had been old enough, she would have gone with him," said Clarence's widow, Maud. "That's why he left without telling her, but Clarence told me she was ready, even then. Of course, she was only a child."
In 1912, Clarence returned to Chattanooga with the Stokes troupe and arranged for its managers, Lonnie and Cora Fisher, to give her an audition. She was hired as a dancer rather than a singer, because the company also included Ma Rainey.
By the early 1920s, Smith had starred with Sidney Bechet in How Come?, a musical that made its way to Broadway, and spent several years working out of Atlanta, Georgia's 81 Theater, performing in black theaters along the East Coast. Following a run-in with the producer of How Come?, she was replaced by Alberta Hunter and returned to Philadelphia, where she had taken up residence. There, she met and fell in love with Jack Gee, a security guard whom she married on June 7, 1923, just as her first recordings were being released by Columbia Records. The marriage was a stormy one, with infidelity on both sides. During the marriage, Smith became the biggest headliner on the black Theater Owners Booking Association ( T.O.B.A.) circuit, running a show that sometimes featured as many as 40 troupers and made her the highest-paid black entertainer of her day. Gee was impressed by the money, but never adjusted to show business life, and especially not Smith's bisexuality. In 1929, when Smith learned of Gee's affair with another performer, Gertrude Saunders, she ended the marriage, but never sought a legal divorce. Smith eventually found a common-law husband in an old friend, Richard Morgan, who was Lionel Hampton's uncle and the antithesis of her husband. She stayed with him until her death.
Bessie Smith (feat. Buster Bailey, Fletcher Henderson) - I ain't got nobody (1925)
anyways, she is an abso lutely awesome singer
i never got the chance to hear it at home
even though we heard it in my class(:
she is pretty and very talented
r.i.p bessie smith
you will always be loved and remembered
But i prefer this actual song over it n.n
Bessie's so wonderful *-*
Thanks for sharing.
Harris came from a well off family, where as Smith came from the other end of the social spectrum.
I'm just being honest with what my ears like the sound of.
I'd love to talk to you, you really seem to know what you are talking about.
I think Harris has more emotion in her music though but don't worry everyone always dissagrees with me LOL.
Was Harris the original?