4
BY DONNA HERULA
5
on the streets with her guitar playing brother, Andrew, to
earn money.
When Bessie was 17 years old, her brother, Clarence,
got her an audition to the Moses Stokes’ Traveling Show,
where he had been working as a comedian and a dancer
for about 8 years. Bessie was hired as a dancer and began
her professional entertainment career.
Soon after, Bessie toured with blues star Ma Rainey in
Fat Chappelle’s Rabbit Foot Minstrels tent where Ma
showed Bessie the ropes of becoming a successful blues
entertainer. Ma was about 8-12 years older than Bessie
(depending on the source used for the year of Ma’s birth).
The two women began singing together, wrote a few
songs together and developed a strong bond that lasted
throughout Bessie’s career.
Bessie moved to Atlanta and was a regular performer at
a theater called “81” where she produced her own shows
and took them on the road. She was also a regular singer
at the Standard and Dunbar Theaters in Philadelphia and
later at the Paradise Gardens, a resort in Atlantic City, NJ.
Recording Jitters to Blues Star

female African American to record a blues song, called
“Crazy Blues.” With the success of this record, record
producers rushed to record other African-American blues
singers and promote these “race records” to the Black
community.
At this time, Bessie was very popular and was eager to re-
cord. However, several record companies she auditioned
for turned her down, including OKeh Records and Harry
Pace’s Black Swan Records. OKeh Records told her they
wanted a smoother pop singer sound and felt Bessie’s
voice was too rough and powerful.
Fortunately for us, Bessie was signed with Columbia
-
sion, Bessie was very nervous, as most recording artists
can understand. She arrived with her pianist, Clarence
Williams, on February 15, 1923. She was asked to sing in
a huge horn, similar to a giant version of an old Victrola –
with the recording engineer behind a curtain. There were
no microphones and the recording was totally acoustic,
Bessie Smith was the biggest blues star of the 1920’s
and 1930’s. She was so popular that she was known as
“The Empress of the Blues”. Her singing was a major



Bessie was the highest paid black entertainer of her
time, commanding over $2,000 a week. (In 2017, this
would be equivalent to $28,000 a week.) Her fans
related to her songs about the hardships between men
and women, something Bessie knew well from her
own relationships – including her marriage. Her voice
was warm and precise, and so strong that it could be
heard clearly through an entire theater without a mi-
crophone. Bessie had incredible control of intonation
and knew how to use her voice to evoke deep emotion
from her audience.

6 feet tall at about 200 pounds. On stage, she wore
colorful dresses made of satin, fringed shawls, and
jeweled hats with feathers, beads or pearls to match her
clothes. Personally, Bessie was assertive and enjoyed
a good time, which many times included alcohol. She
recorded nearly 160 songs and wrote more than 25 in
her lifetime, including songs with the greatest musi-
cians like Louis Armstrong.
Bessie is one of the few early blues stars that was

“St. Louis Blues” from 1929 is available on YouTube,
including a sketch intro before Bessie sings.
Trials of Her Early Days
Bessie was born in a rundown, one-room cabin in
Chattanooga, Tennessee on April 15, 1894. Her father,
William Smith, was a part-time Baptist preacher who
died shortly after she was born. Both her mother,
Laura, and one of her brothers died by the time that
Bessie was 9 years old, leaving her and her three
sisters and two brothers orphans.
Bessie, the youngest child, and her siblings learned to
be resourceful in order to survive. Her oldest sister,
Viola, ran a small laundry business to help support
the family. Young Bessie took to singing and dancing
Bessie Smith – Empress of the Blues

with 
with the volume depending on the strength of the singers’
voice, which was no problem for Bessie.
Bessie attempted to make a good recording eleven times

sent her home and rescheduled the recording session to the
next day. On her third try on the second day, Bessie record-

(or 78) sold over 780,000 copies in 6 months after it was

around this time and all were great successes. This increased
the number of fans coming to her live performances as well.

releasable recording. But in April 1923, her new 8-year
contract gave her $1,500 up front plus increased the amount
paid for each record to $150. Between 1923 and 1931,
Bessie recorded 160 songs and became one of Columbia’s
best-selling artists. Columbia promoted and advertised her
work but did not pay her royalties.
One of Bessie’s best-selling songs was a self-written one

River. Additionally she and Louis Armstrong recorded
together three times, and created nine hit records including
the songs “St. Louis Blues” and “You’ve Been a Good Old
Wagon.”
Bessie earned as much as $2,000 or more a week from her
live performances at that time. A generous person, Bessie
sent a lot of her earnings to her sister Viola and also bought
her sisters and their children a house in Philadelphia, near
her own house.
She also bought a 78 foot long yellow railroad car with
her name painted on the side in green lettering. It had 7
staterooms, each one sleeping up to 4 people. It also had a
kitchen, bathroom and running hot and cold water. Thirty-

the crew and all 40+ musicians, dancers and comedians
could travel together.
Bessie made her last record with John Hammond in 1933
for the OKeh Record Company. Hammond had been a
Bessie Smith fan since childhood. Of the four songs re-
corded, one of the best known was “Gimme a Pigfoot.”
Bessie Scares Off the KKK
One hot evening in July 1927, Bessie was performing at
a tent show in Concord, North Carolina. One of her musi-
cians went outside of the tent for some air. He came upon
six members of the KKK trying to pull out some of the
stakes holding up the tent. When Bessie heard the KKK
was trying to disrupt her concert by collapsing the tent,
she became furious.
After a group of stagehands refused to get rid of the
Klansmen, Bessie charged outside and confronted the
Klan. According to author Chis Albertson, she shouted,

at them, putting the other hand on her hips. “I’ll get the
entire tent out here if I have to,” she yelled. “You just
pick up them sheets and run!”

Bessie shouted more obscenities, they turned around and

Love and Marriage
Bessie was married twice and had a number of love
relationships. In 1920, Bessie married Earl Love, but he
unfortunately passed away a year or two after they mar-
ried. Little is known about Bessie’s relationship with her




7






years old. There was controversy after Bessie’s death
about her dying as a result of not being admitted to a
white-only hospital, but this rumor was proven to be
false.
Remembering Bessie
On Sunday, October 3 and Monday, October 4, 1937,
approximately twenty thousand fans and mourners
paid their respects walking past Bessie’s gold trimmed,
velvet-lined casket. After an estimated ten thousand
people visited on Sunday, October 3rd, the casket had to
be moved to a different location the next day to better ac-
commodate thousands of more visitors. Thirty-nine cars
were in her funeral procession and she was laid to rest
at Mount Lawn Cemetery in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania
(near Philadelphia).
For nearly 37 years, Bessie’s grave was unmarked. After
a woman named Barbara Muldow complained to the
Philadelphia newspaper, Juanita Green, from the NAACP,
and Janis Joplin, the blues-rock singer, each gave half
the money to purchase a tombstone. Unfortunately, Janis
Joplin died two months after the tombstone was placed.
Bessie’s gravestone read:
The Greatest Blues Singer
in the World Will Never Stop Singing
Bessie Smith
1895-1937
Bessie was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980
and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. She

rock singers worldwide. She will be remembered for her

music to generations of music lovers.
John “Jack” Gee, a good looking security guard, saw


after chasing a robber and ended up in the hospital for

day, Bessie and Jack fell in love and Jack moved in with
Bessie after he was released. Bessie and Jack were mar-
ried on June 7, 1923.
Their marriage was characterized by high drama, bad
tempers, binge drinking and affairs on both sides. At
times, Jack was physically abusive towards Bessie.
Like so many abused women, Bessie broke up with her
husband several times, but then would get back together
with him.
Shortly before they married, Jack kindly pawned his
watch and other items to buy Bessie an attractive dress
for her recording session with Columbia. But after they
were married and she became a greater success, Bessie
spent a lot of time traveling on the road without her
husband, who continued to work as a security guard. To
spend more time with her, Jack quit his job. But with her
increased stardom, continued time apart, and admiring,
doting fans came frequent jealous quarrels. Jack also be-
lieved that he should be managing the money that Bessie
made – although many times, he used the money to buy
fancy clothes and luxury items for himself. In 1926, the
couple adopted a boy from a friend in trouble, that they
named Jack Jr.
Changing Times
In 1931, Columbia decided not to re-sign a contract with
Bessie due to a decline in blues record sales. However,
Bessie continued to be popular and bring in large audi-
ences wherever she performed. By 1933, she added
more popular music, jazz and Broadway songs into
her performances. With amazing stage presence and a
broadened range of musical styles, she was a legend even
with the young jazz players. Lionel Hampton recalled,
“She was a star. I’m convinced that if she had lived, she
would have been right up there with the rest of us in the
swing music.”
Early Death
At about 3am on September 26, 1937, Bessie Smith and
her manager and friend, Richard Morgan, got into a car
accident while driving along Route 61 near Clarksdale,
after a show in Memphis, TN. Richard, the driver, was
unharmed, but Bessie lost a lot of blood and died at
Clarksdale’s Afro-American Hospital. She was only 43

with 
Donna Herula is a blues
singer and slide guitarist that
regularly plays at Buddy
Guy’s Legends. She has

Bessie Smith’s music.
www.donnaherula.com