Bessie Smith

A hugely popular blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s, Bessie Smith is one of the genre's most iconic names, influencing many generations of blues singers following her premature death in 1937. Her father, a labourer and part-time Baptist preacher, died before she could walk and by the time she was nine she'd also lost her mother and a brother and was effectively raised in near-poverty by her elder sister. To try and raise some money she and brother Andrew busked on the streets of Chattanooga - Bessie sang and danced while Andrew played guitar. She later joined her eldest brother Clarence performing in a small travelling troupe, initially as a dancer, when the troupe's main singer was Ma Rainey. Rainey subsequently became a major influence on Smith's distinctively robust vocal style which eventually won her a contract with Columbia Records. After moving to Philadelphia she became the highest paid black entertainer of the day, after scoring a big hit with her first record, a cover of Alberta Hunter's Downhearted Blues. Labelled Empress of the Blues, she went on to make 160 recordings for Columbia Records, working with many of the biggest names of the era, including Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Joe Smith and Charlie Green. In 1929 she made her only movie appearance in St Louis Blues, based on the WC Handy song, but her career went into decline during the Great Depression. However Bessie was re-discovered when John Hammond signed her to Okeh Records in 1933 and, working with the likes of Jack Teegarden and Benny Goodman, she did some of her best vocal performances on tracks like Take Me For A Buggy Ride and Gimme A Pigfoot. Bessie died in a road accident in Clarksdale, Mississippi in 1937, aged 43.