6
Bessie Smith
(1894-1937)
Backwater
Blues
St. Louis Blues
Downhearted
Blues
-Bessie Smith was born on April 15, 1894 in Chattanooga, Tennessee
- She was one of seven children
- Father was a baptist dying shortly after her birth leaving her mother to raise all of them
- Around 1906 her mother and two of her brothers died leaving her to be raised by her Aunt
-Grew up in a rough environment
- After losing her mother and brothers, she began performing as a street singer and was accompanied on the guitar by one of her younger brothers
- Her subject matter was the classic material of the blues: poverty and oppression and the stoic acceptance of defeat at the hands of a cruel and indifferent world
- By 1920, Bessie Smith had settled down and was living in Philadelphia
1923 was when she met and married a man with the name of Jack Gee. That same year, she was then discovered by a representative from Columbia Records and that was when she made her first song recordings. Her song with the name of "Downhearted Blues" was an extreme hit and sold an estimated 800,000 copies. She then instantly became a hit and began being put into the blues spotlight. She then began touring where she worked with many important jazz performers such saxophonist Sidney Bechet , pianists Fletcher Henderson and James P. Johnson. She recorded one of her most famous songs with James P. Johnson called "Backwater Blues."