Born April 15, 1894

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Died September 26, 1937

Clarksdale, Mississippi

American blues singer and songwriter

Bessie Smith. (The Bettmann Archive. Reproduced by permission.)

"Nobody messed with Bessie."

Some music fans and critics consider Bessie Smith the greatest and most influential blues singer of all time. Her powerful and dramatic style set a standard that other singers followed, and her self-assurance, distinctive personality, and sometimes wild lifestyle made her one of the most flamboyant characters of the Harlem Renaissance. Evident in the many recordings she made (most of which have been reissued since her death) are the raw emotion and underlying spirituality she brought to her music. As reported in Here Me Talkin' to Ya by Nat Shapiro and Nat Hentoff, guitarist Danny Barker said that Smith had the same effect on her listeners as the most talented southern preacher: "She could bring about mass hypnotism. When she was...