In Netflix's new film Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Viola Davis stars as the heavy makeup-wearing, velvety-voiced, super confident Ma Rainey. Based on August Wilson's play of the same name, most of the ...

Smith was barnstorming the South, performing her act under a canvas tent for Black audiences or in segregated theaters. One sweltering night in July, it took her to the heart of Concord’s Black ...

"The Empress of the Blues" gave voice the listeners' tribulations and yearnings of the 1920s and '30s. A new 10-CD box set collects the complete... The Mythic Power Of Bessie Smith Vocalist Bessie ...

If Bessie Smith were alive today, she’d likely be singing the blues about North Carolina. A state advisory panel has recommended against approval of a highway historical marker for the night the blues ...

This story is free to read because readers choose to support LAist. If you find value in independent local reporting, make a donation to power our newsroom today. SHAPIRO: Or does rock 'n' roll owe a ...

Bessie Smith is known now as the “Empress of the Blues.” The Tennessee native rose to greatness through the 1920s and ‘30s and was one of the first blues singers to make a record. Her first effort, ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. By the summer of 1927, Bessie Smith, the “Empress of the Blues” herself, was enjoying a high-riding career when her personal ...

Singer Bessie Smith's recording career lasted only 10 years, but during that time she created a body of work that helped shape the sound of the 20th century. Her first single, "Downhearted Blues" — ...