Biography

The original tough-mama prototype for nearly every female blues singer to come, hard-living, big-voiced Bessie Smith was also the first blues singer with a mega-hit recording career, achieved in part via collaborations with some of the most notable musicians of her era. In her prime in the 1920s and 1930s, she was the highest-paid black entertainer in the U.S., and her influence persists to this day.

Top Tracks

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• A Good Man Is Hard To Find

• Aggravatin' Papa

• Alexander's Ragtime Band

• At The Christmas Ball

• Backwater Blues

• Beale Street Mama

• Black Mountain Blues

• Bo Weavil Blues

• Careless Love

• Careless Love Blues

• Don't Cry Baby

• Downhearted Blues

• Empty Bed Blues, Pt. 1

• Empty Bed Blues, Pt. 2

• Florida Bound Blues

• Gimme A Pigfoot (and A Bottle Of Beer)

• Gulf Coast Blues

• House Rent Blues

• I Ain't Gonna Play No Second Fiddle

• I Ain't Got Nobody

• I'm Wild About That Thing

• In The House Blues

• I've Been Mistreated And I Don't Like It

• Jailhouse Blues

• Jazzbo Brown From Memphis Town

• Kitchen Man

• Lock And Key

• Mean Old Bed Bug Blues

• Mean Old Bedbug Blues

• Moan, You Moaners

• Muddy Water

• My Man Blues

• Need A Little Sugar In My Bowl

• New Gulf Coast Blues

• New Orleans Hop Scop Blues

• Nobody In Town Can Bake A Sweet Jelly Roll Like Mine

• Nobody Knows When You Are Down And Out

• Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out

• Poor Man's Blues

• Preachin' The Blues

• Send Me To The 'lectric Chair

• Spider Man Blues

• Squeeze Me

• St. Louis Blues

• St. Louis Gal

• Standin' In The Rain

• 'tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do

• T'ain't Nobody's Biz-ness If I Do

• Take Me For A Buggy Ride

• The St. Louis Blues

• There'll Be A Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight

• Ticket Agent, Ease Your Window Down

• Woman's Trouble Blues

• Worn Out Papa Blues

• Yellow Dog Blues

• Young Woman's Blues

Discography

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