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SPEAKER_03: Thank you for tuning in today. My name is Nakesha Bailey, Vice President of A&R Operations at APG and Co-Chair of Women in Music's Diversity and Inclusion Council. I am beyond thrilled to be co-hosting today's episode of Encyclopedia Wamanaka, featuring legendary blues and jazz singer Bessie Smith. Bessie's story is so special because she is the true definition of making it against all odds. Having lost both parents very early in life and raised in poverty, Bessie blossomed to become the highest paid black performer of the 1920s selling millions of records. She was fearless in saying about freedom, sexual empowerment, gender and racial inequality at a time where all these topics were hotbeds of controversy. Her story is one of extreme importance because as women, particularly black women, we have come a long way battling many of the issues that Bessie dealt with over a century ago, but still have a long way to go when it comes to leveling the playing field in terms of gender and racial inequality, as well as sexual empowerment. Sounds like Bessie Smith and Cardi B have a lot in common if you ask me. Now here's host Jenny Kaplan to tell you all about Bessie Smith. Enjoy the episode.
SPEAKER_01: ["When It Rained Five Days"] Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan and this is Encyclopedia Wamanica. Today's musician was one of the most popular and important blues singers of the 1920s and 30s. Known as the Empress of the Blues, she was considered perhaps the greatest vocal talent of her era. Her work heavily influenced other blues singers of her day and the great jazz vocalists to come. Please welcome Bessie Smith. Bessie Smith was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee on April 15th, 1894, though there's some controversy about the accuracy of that date. Her father, William Urey, was a manual laborer and Baptist preacher who died when Bessie was very young. Her mother, Laura, took care of the children until her own death when Bessie was just nine. After that, Bessie was raised by her older sister, Viola. Bessie described her early years as a wretched childhood. Her family lived in poverty or near poverty for much of her youth, which meant that Bessie didn't really have the luxury of receiving an education. Instead, she spent her days with her brother busking on a busy Chattanooga street corner to earn money for her family. She would sing and dance while her brother accompanied her on the guitar. When Bessie was 10, her oldest brother, Clarence, left home to join a traveling vaudeville troupe run by Moses Stokes. Bessie was desperate to join with her brother but was deemed too young at the time. Eight years later, in 1912, Clarence returned to Chattanooga with the Stokes troupe and helped Bessie get an audition. Because the Stokes troupe already featured vaudeville superstar, Ma Rainey, as their premier singing talent, Bessie was hired as a dancer rather than a singer. Just a year later, in 1913, Bessie formed her own act out of an Atlanta theater, which she made her home base. She became a premier performer on the black-owned theater owners booking association circuit. By 1920, Bessie had earned quite a reputation for herself in the South and Southeast as a can't-miss performer. At the same time, the recording industry was evolving as blues legends like singer Mamie Smith, of no relation, started putting out records that were flying off the shelves. This was new in the US and represented a sea change in the perceived marketability of black artists to predominantly white target audiences, particularly with regard to black women who sang the blues. Bessie recognized the opportunity afforded by this newfound hunger for blues records and began her recording career three years later in 1923. She was quickly signed to Columbia Records and became the first artist released under their newly formed division called Race Records. Her first record from Columbia was a major hit, and Columbia's marketing department began advertising Bessie as Queen of the Blues. The press gave Bessie an upgrade, eventually landing on Empress of the Blues instead. When not recording, Bessie spent much of the 1920s still working the black theater circuit in the South. This eventually made her the highest paid black entertainer in America. Audiences loved her music because it stressed independence and even sexual freedom, and affirmed the value of the working class while denying a perceived need to alter behavior in order to gain respect. Bessie even famously bought her own 72-foot-long railroad car so that she could travel from town to town in comfort and style. In 1923, Bessie married a security guard named Jack Gee, but from almost the start, the marriage was highly tumultuous due to infidelity on both sides. Bessie was bisexual, and her affairs with other women particularly bothered her husband, who never fully accepted his wife's sexual orientation. In 1929, Bessie found out that Jack was cheating on her with another well-known singer. That was the last straw. The two separated, though neither sought a formal divorce. After the marriage dissolution, Bessie eventually started a relationship with an old friend named Richard Morgan, and the two remained together until Bessie's death. Over the course of her time with Columbia Records, Bessie made more than 160 recordings, many of which featured other musical greats from the period, like Louis Armstrong and Coleman Hawkins. Bessie's strong contralto voice recorded particularly well on the technology of the day, and yet, despite the best-selling records, many people, both black and white, and even her fans, considered Bessie to be a rough woman, and sometimes even too rough, essentially a euphemism for being low-class. I wish I had some more. With the start of the Great Depression in 1929 and the subsequent destruction of the recording industry, Bessie's career was stopped in its tracks. The advent of the talking picture was also no help, as its introduction was the death knell for the vaudeville industry. Still, Bessie kept working when she could, including a turn on Broadway and a role in a film called St. Louis Blues.
SPEAKER_03: I got them St. Louis blues Just as new as I can be
SPEAKER_01: In 1933, John Henry Hammond, who was also a mentor to jazz legend Billie Holiday, asked Bessie to make a record for OK Records. These were the last recordings she ever made and indicated a transformation from her traditional blues work to a newer sound more in line with the swing jazz of the day.
SPEAKER_01: Just four years later, on September 26, 1937, Bessie was killed in a car crash while driving with her partner, Richard Morgan, on U.S. Route 61 in Tennessee. Though Morgan sustained no serious injuries, Bessie's arm was sheared off, and she sustained massive internal trauma. Beyond the devastation, Bessie's death caused her fans, friends, and family. For years, there were rumors that she succumbed to her injuries because the ambulance took her to a whites-only hospital that refused to admit her because she was black. This often-repeated story formed the basis for playwright Edward Albee's 1959 play called The Death of Bessie Smith, but this version of events has since been discredited by historians. Bessie was buried in Philadelphia on October 4, 1937. Her funeral was attended by approximately 7,000 mourners. All month, we're talking about musicians. For more on why we're doing what we're doing, check out our newsletter, Womanica Weekly. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Encyclopedia Womanica, and you can follow me directly on Twitter at Jenny M. Kaplan. Special thanks to my favorite sister and co-creator, Liz Kaplan. Talk to you tomorrow. This episode of Encyclopedia Womanica is brought to you by Saqqara. Are you working from home? Stay healthy, focused, and energized with fresh, delicious meals delivered straight to your door from Saqqara. Saqqara is a nutrition company that believes wellness begins with what you eat. Their signature nutrition program brings the transformational power of plant nutrition to your home in the form of fresh, plant-rich, ready-to-eat meals made with organic ingredients and powerful superfoods. Each meal is expertly designed to boost immunity, improve energy, support gut health and digestion, and get skin glowing. In addition to their delicious meals, Saqqara also offers daily essentials like supplements and herbal teas to complete your wellness routine and support overall health and vitality. To boost immunity, try their best-selling daily probiotic blend or detox water drops with pure chlorophyll. I've been using Saqqara Life Super Powder in smoothies, and I highly recommend. Right now, Saqqara's offering our listeners 20% off their order when they go to saqqara.com slash encyclopedia or enter code encyclopedia at checkout. That's saqqara, S-A-K-A-R-A, .com slash encyclopedia to get 20% off your order. Hey there, I wanna tell you about another show that I think you'll love. We're in the midst of an election cycle that demands we make our voices heard, and the most effective way to campaign is by talking to the people you know. From Wonder Media Network, Majority 54 equips you with the tools to talk to your friends and acquaintances, counter misinformation that's gone rampant online, and still maintain relationships with those whose opinions differ from your own. Each week, co-hosts Jason Kander and Ravi Gupta are talking to the 54% of Americans who didn't vote for Donald Trump and are committed to changing the minds of those who did. Now more than ever, we must stand up, reach out, and work to make lasting change in our government and beyond. Listen to Majority 54 wherever you get your podcasts.
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