“Down in the Deep South Cotton Belt, no ambulance driver, or white driver, would even have thought of putting a colored person off in a hospital for white folks.”
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Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith was an African-American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the "Empress of the Blues" and formerly Queen of the Blues, she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, 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…
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entertainment · American blues singer (1892–1937) · street artist · musician · singer · dancer · mime artist · entertainer · recording artist · also Bessie Smith, Empress of the Blues, The Empress of the Blues, Smith
Born 15 April 1894 · Died 26 September 1937 · Q93349
123 published statements · 0 followers
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St. Louis Blues
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Bessie Smith - Downhearted Blues (1923)
Music composed by Alberta Hunter and Lovie Austin. · Public domain
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2026· 4 entries
wtvcfox: Chattanooga's Wanda 'The Program Lady' Goins honored as Bessie Smith History Maker
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Shatter the Standards: Blues at the Top with Bessie Smith
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Jazz: Jazz Articles about Bessie Smith
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2024· 2 entries
Released album “Essential Classics, Vol. 470: Bessie Smith”.
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WWNO: American Routes Shortcuts: Bessie Smith
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2023· 4 entries
Awarded National Women's Hall of Fame (2023).
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NPR: Celebrating 100 years of the music of Bessie Smith
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Wall Street Journal: A Century of Bessie Smith’s Blues
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Rolling Stone ranked Smith at No
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2021· 2 entries
Released album “Need a Little Sugar In My Bowl”.
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KCRW: Jackie Kay: “Bessie Smith: A Poet's Biography of a Blues Legend”
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2020· 2 entries
Released album “Jazz: The Essential Collection, Vol. 3”.
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Yahoo: 1923: Bessie Smith
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2019· 3 entries
LAist: How Bessie Smith Influenced A Century Of Popular Music
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To acclaim, Smith and the song also saw a boost in popularity
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Time created 89 new covers to celebrate women of the year starting from 1920; it chose Smith for 1923
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2018· 3 entries
Jazz: Rory Block: A Woman’s Soul: A Tribute to Bessie Smith
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Released album “Down Hearted Blues”.
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Released album “Me and My Gin”.
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2016· 1 entry
Released album “The Absolutely Essential 3 CD Collection”.
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2015· 1 entry
Released album “The Best of Bessie Smith”.
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2012· 3 entries
Released album “Blues Masters, Volume 11”.
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Released album “Bessie Smith”.
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Released album “The Complete Columbia Recordings”.
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2011· 2 entries
Released album “The Rough Guide to Blues Legends: Bessie Smith”.
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Released album “Bessie Smith Blues Queen”.
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2010· 1 entry
Released album “The Anthology”.
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2008· 2 entries
Released album “Empress Of The Blues - Volume 2: 1926 - 1933”.
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Released album “Squeeze Me”.
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2007· 3 entries
Released album “The Undisputed Queen of the Blues, Volume 1”.
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Released album “Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out”.
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Released album “Young Woman's Blues”.
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2006· 4 entries
Released album “The Undisputed Queen of the Blues”.
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Released album “The Essence of Bessie Smith”.
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Released album “I've Got What It Takes - Vol. 5: Original Recordings 1929-1933”.
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Released album “Queen of the Blues, Volume 1”.
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2005· 6 entries
Released album “Chattanooga Gal”.
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Released album “Chattanooga Gal: Careless Love Blues”.
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Released album “Greatest Hits”.
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Released album “Chattanooga Gal: Down Hearted Blues”.
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Released album “Chattanooga Gal: Me & My Gin”.
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Released album “Chattanooga Gal: Young Woman Blues”.
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2004· 1 entry
Released album “The Complete Recordings, Volume 8”.
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2003· 6 entries
Released album “Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: Bessie Smith”.
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Released album “Bessie Smith Vol. 2 'St. Louis Blues': Original Recordings 1924-1925”.
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Released album “The Complete Recordings, Volume 5”.
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Released album “The Complete Recordings, Volume 6”.
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Released album “The Complete Recordings, Volume 7”.
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Released album “Downhearted Blues (Original 1923-1924 Recordings)”.
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2002· 2 entries
Released album “Great Divas”.
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Smith's recording of "Downhearted Blues" was included in the National Recording Registry by the National Recording Preservation Board of the Library of Congress
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2001· 6 entries
Released album “The Complete Recordings, Volume 2”.
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And in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 songs that shaped rock 'n' roll
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Released album “The Complete Recordings, Volume 1”.
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Released album “After You've Gone”.
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Released album “Midnite Jazz & Blues: Empress of the Blues”.
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Released album “Vocal Jazz”.
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2000· 2 entries
Released album “Jazz 'n' Blues”.
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Released album “Woman’s Trouble Blues”.
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1999· 2 entries
Released album “I'm Wild About That Thing”.
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Released album “The Gold Collection: 40 Classic Performances”.
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1998· 2 entries
Released album “The Masters”.
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Released album “The Ultimate Collection”.
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1997· 4 entries
Released album “The Essential Bessie Smith”.
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Released album “The Quintessence: The Empress 1923–1933”.
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Released album “Jazz Greats, Volume 38: Bessie Smith: Preachin' the Blues”.
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Released album “The Chronological Classics: Bessie Smith 1929–1933”.
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1996· 6 entries
Released album “Bessie's Blues”.
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Released album “Members Edition”.
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Released album “The Chronological Classics: Bessie Smith 1927-1928”.
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Released album “An Introduction to Bessie Smith: Her Best Recordings 1923-1933”.
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Released album “The Chronological Classics: Bessie Smith 1928-1929”.
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Released album “American Legends - Bessie Smith”.
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1995· 2 entries
Released album “The Chronological Classics: Bessie Smith 1925-1927”.
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Released album “The Chronological Classics: Bessie Smith 1924-1925”.
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1994· 6 entries
Released album “Mama's Got the Blues”.
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Released album “The Chronological Classics: Bessie Smith 1923”.
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Released album “The Chronological Classics: Bessie Smith 1923-1924”.
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Released album “Lady Luck Blues”.
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Released album “Alexander's Ragtime Band”.
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Released album “I Ain’t Got Nobody”.
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1993· 7 entries
Released album “19 Reflective Recordings”.
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Released album “Blue Spirit Blues”.
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Released album “Charly Blues Masterworks, Volume 31: Empress of the Blues”.
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Released album “Bessie Smith Sings the Jazz”.
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Released album “The Blues Collection: Bessie Smith, Classic Blues”.
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Released album “The Complete Recordings, Volume 4”.
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Released album “Dixie Flyer Blues”.
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1992· 1 entry
Released album “The Complete Recordings, Volume 3”.
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1991· 2 entries
Released album “1923-1933 Empress of the Blues”.
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Released album “The Legendary King Oliver, Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong”.
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1990· 2 entries
Released album “St Louis Blues”.
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Released album “Bessie Smith: The Greatest Blues Singer in the World”.
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1989· 5 entries
Awarded Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1989).
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Awarded Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1989).
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Released album “The Collection”.
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Released album “Mother of the Blues”.
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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
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1987· 1 entry
Released album “Original Jazz Recordings 1925-1933”.
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1986· 1 entry
Released album “Great Original Performances: 1925-1933”.
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1975· 1 entry
But probably dates from 1970 to 1971, although musician Artie Traum recalls bumping into Rick Danko, the co-writer of the song, at Woodstock in 1969, who sang a verse of "Going Down The Road to See Bessie" on the spot
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1973· 1 entry
To honor recordings that are at least 25 years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance"
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1972· 1 entry
Released album “Nobody's Blues But Mine”.
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1971· 1 entry
Released album “Empty Bed Blues”.
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1970· 2 entries
Paid for by the singer Janis Joplin and Juanita Green, who as a child had done housework for Smith
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Released album “The World's Greatest Blues Singer”.
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1965· 1 entry
Hoyt Axton Sings Bessie Smith is another collection of Smith's songs performed by folk singer Hoyt Axton
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1951· 1 entry
Released album “The Bessie Smith Story, Volume 1”.
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1940· 1 entry
Released album “Empress Of The Blues”.
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1937· 2 entries
Smith was critically injured in a car crash on U
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Died 1937-09-26.
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1933· 3 entries
Serve as a hint of the transformation she made in her performances as she shifted her blues artistry into something that fit the swing era
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When she made the Okeh sides, she was still touring
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John Henry Hammond, who also mentored Billie Holiday, asked Smith to record four sides for Okeh (which had been acquired by Columbia Records in 1925)
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1929· 2 entries
When she learned of his affair with another singer, Gertrude Saunders, Smith ended the relationship, although neither of them sought a divorce
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Appeared in a Broadway musical, Pansy
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1923· 3 entries
But her performing career was cut short by a car crash that killed her at the age of 45
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Smith was 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
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By Frank Walker, a talent agent who had seen her perform years earlier
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1912· 1 entry
Clarence returned to Chattanooga with the Stokes troupe and arranged an audition for his sister with the troupe managers, Lonnie and Cora Fisher
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1904· 1 entry
Her oldest brother Clarence left home and joined a small traveling troupe owned by Moses Stokes
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1894· 1 entry
Born 1894-04-15.
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