born on April 15th, 1894, but her gravestone says she was born in 1895. Bessie Smith's

mother, father, and two of her siblings died by the time she was nine years old. She worked 

for the Moses Stokes minstrel show and the Rabbit Foot Minstrels as a dancer when she

was eighteen years old, there she met Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, the first woman to sing the

blues, she was also the most famous woman to sing the blues until Bessie Smith came

along. Known as the Mother of the blues, Ma Rainey took Bessie under her wing and trained

her to sing the classic blues. Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith also worked together when Bessie 

began to sing professionally. She was earning the unheard of sum of two thousand dollars

a week. Later in life Bessie would become more successful than Ma Rainey.

Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, and Wanda Jackson. According to Chris Alberton,

author of Bessie, "Rock and Roll is Rythmn and Blues, and it came from the blues of 

Bessie Smith." Some of her most famous songs are; Backwater Blues, Taint' Nobodies

Business if I do, and Baby Doll.These tracks and more sell very well even today. 

Bessie's husband's name was Jack Gee, she married him in 1923 and some of the

people that she worked with were Columbia Records, Sidney Bechet 

(a saxophonist), Fletcher Henderson, and James P. Johnson (both pianists). Richard 

Morgan was driving the car curing the car accident on September 26th, 1937 in 

Memphis, Tennessee in which Bessie died. Bessie refused treatment at a whites only 

hospital and than died in a black's hospital at the age of 43 Several decades 

after Bessie was laid to rest, an extreme fan of hers, Janis Joplin, purchased her 

a headstone and covered her song Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out. 

Before this, Bessie laid in an anonymous plot. In 1961 Edward Albee wrote a song 

called The Death of Bessie Smith.

rock and roll and she inspired a lot of singers. Bessie helped shape the music industry 

today. She helped to begin the swing era and she was the most rich female singer of

her time, and the most rich African American singer of her time . Bessie Smith was a 

feminist and inspired many people, including me.

"Bessie Smith Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2014.