Bessie SMITH

⬇️ BESSIE SMITH ⬇️
DISCOGRAPHY 1923-2022 (98CD/DVD)

 BIOGRAPHY 
          

Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer. Nicknamed the Empress of the Blues, she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s. She is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era and was a major influence on fellow blues singers, as well as jazz vocalists.

The 1900 census indicates that her family reported that Bessie Smith was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in July 1892. The 1910 census gives her age as 16, and a birth date of April 15, 1894 appears on subsequent documents and was observed as her birthday by the Smith family. The 1870 and 1880 censuses report three older half-siblings, but later interviews with Smith's family and contemporaries contain no mention of them among her siblings.

She was the daughter of Laura (born Owens) and William Smith, a laborer and part-time Baptist preacher (he was listed in the 1870 census as a "minister of the gospel", in Moulton, Lawrence County, Alabama). He died while his daughter was too young to remember him. By the time Bessie was nine, her mother and a brother had also died. Her older sister Viola took charge of caring for her siblings.

To earn money for their impoverished household, Smith and her brother Andrew began busking on the streets of Chattanooga. She sang and danced as he played the guitar. Their favorite 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 left home, 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 an audition for his sister with the troupe managers, Lonnie and Cora Fisher. She was hired as a dancer rather than a singer, because the company already included the well-known singer Ma Rainey. Smith eventually moved on to performing in various chorus lines, making the "81" Theater in Atlanta her home base. She also performed in shows on the black-owned (Theater Owners Booking Association) (T.O.B.A.) circuit and became its biggest star after she signed a recording contract with Columbia Records.

Smith's recording career began in 1923. Despite her success, neither she nor her music was accepted in all circles. She once auditioned for Black Swan records (W. E. B. Du Bois was on its board of directors) and was dismissed because she was considered too rough, she supposedly stopped singing to spit. In fact, even her admirers, white and black, considered her a “rough” (i.e., working class or even “low class”) woman.

She was then living in Philadelphia, when she met Jack Gee, a security guard, whom she married on June 7, 1923, just as her first record was being released. During the marriage Smith became the highest-paid black entertainer of the day, heading her own shows, which sometimes featured as many as 40 troupers, and touring in her own custom-built railroad car.

Their marriage was stormy with infidelity on both sides, including numerous female lovers for Bessie. Gee was impressed by the money but never adjusted to show business life or to Smith's bisexuality. In 1929, when she learned of his affair with another singer, Gertrude Saunders, Smith ended the relationship, although neither of them sought a divorce.

Smith later entered a common-law marriage with an old friend, Richard Morgan, who was Lionel Hampton's uncle. She stayed with him until her death..... (Wikipedia)

NEW!

1923-Collection @FLAC

1923-Midnight Blues @FLAC24-48

1924-Old Time Classics (1923-24) (2CD) @FLAC

1925-Columbia (14075D) (78rpm) @FLAC

1941-Parlophone (R 2146) (78rpm) @FLAC24-96

1942-Parlophone (R 2329) (78rpm) @FLAC24-96

1942-Parlophone (R 2479) (78rpm) @FLAC24-96

1949-Parlophone (A7709) (78rpm) @FLAC24-96

2002-Bessie Smith Empress Of The Blues @FLAC

2004-Empty Bed Blues (1927-28) @FLAC

2010-Bessie Smith Sings Them Dirty Blues @FLAC

2016-All That Jazz Vol.57-A Decade of the Blues (Remastered) @FLAC24-48

2019-Golden Hits By Bessie Smith Vol.2 @FLAC

2023-St. Louis Blues + On Revival Day (Single) @FLAC

2024-Blue Notes  A Blues Survey from (1920-60) Vol.1 @FLAC

2024-Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out @FLAC

COLLECTION

Lady Sings the Blues (Orchard) @FLAC

Lady Sings The Blues (Vol.1&2) (2CD) @FLAC

VARIOUS ARTISTS

VA-100 Christmas Blues-Songs to Get You Through the Cold @FLAC

VA-Songs of American History (2CD) @FLAC