what happened to william smith that wrote under the name of cato
Bessie Smith Biography
Born: April xv, 1894
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Died: September 26, 1937
Clarksdale, Mississippi
African American singer
The African American singer Bessie Smith was called "The Empress of the Blues." Her magnificent vocalism, sense of the dramatic, clarity of diction (1 never missed a word of what she sang), and incomparable time and phrasing set her apart from the competition and made her appeal as much to jazz lovers as to blues lovers.
Early on years
Bessie Smith was born into poverty in Chattanooga, Tennessee, ane of seven children of William and Laura Smith. Her male parent was a Baptist minister and a laborer. Her begetter died soon later on her birth and her mother and two of her brothers died by the time she was viii or nine. An single aunt raised her and her siblings. Smith realized that she had an unusual voice and sang for money on street corners at an early age, accompanied on guitar by Andrew, her younger brother.
At age eighteen Bessie worked with the Moses Stokes traveling minstrel show, and later with the Rabbit Human foot Minstrels under Gertrude "Ma" Rainey. The minstrel show (a show based on African American music and sense of humor) circuit was a difficult life. Tardily hours, low pay, gambling, fighting, and abusing alcohol and drugs were commonplace. But Smith'southward voice was remarkable, filling the largest hall without amplification (the expansion of audio) and reaching out to each listener in cute, earthy tones.
In 1920 Mamie Smith (no relation to Bessie Smith) recorded the offset song blues record and sold one hundred thou copies in the first calendar month. Record executives realized they had a new market and the "race record" was born. These records were shipped but to the South and selected areas of the N where African American people congregated. Bessie Smith produced "Dejected Blues" and "Gulf Coast Blues" in Feb 1923. An phenomenal 780 thousand copies sold within 6 months.
Recorded with the jazz elite
In 1923 Smith's big intermission came when she was discovered by Columbia Records. Frank Walker handled her recording contract from 1923 through 1931 and helped launch her successful career of 160 titles.
Smith purchased a custom-designed railroad machine for herself and her troupe in 1925. This allowed her to featherbed some of the dispiriting (negative) furnishings of the racism found in both northern and southern states. She traveled with her ain tent evidence or with the Theater Owners' Booking Clan (TOBA) shows, commanding a weekly bacon that peaked at two thousand dollars.
Smith recorded with a diversity of accompanists during her 10-year recording career. They included pianists Fred Longshaw, Porter Grainger, and Fletcher Henderson; saxophonists Coleman Hawkins and Sidney Bechet; trombonist Charlie Green; clarinetists Buster Bailey and Don Redman; and cornetist
Bessie Smith.
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Joe Smith. With Louis Armstrong (1900–1971) she recorded "St. Louis Blues," "Cold in Hand Blues," "Devil-may-care Love Dejection," "Nashville Woman's Blues," and "I Ain't Gonna Play No Second Fiddle."
Singing the blues
Every bit the popularity of Smith's records grew, her touring schedule grew. As she traveled from her home base of operations of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, throughout the United States, adoring crowds greeted her at each stop. In spite of Smith's commercial success, her personal life was very similar to the blues she sang. Her marriage to Jack Gee was stormy and ended in a biting separation in 1929. Smith was besides struggling to battle liquor.
Smith'southward popularity as a recording artist crested around 1929. And then the combination of radio, talking pictures, and the Slap-up Depression (1929–39; a period of astringent economical downfall resulting in the loss of jobs for millions) undermined the entire recording industry. The price she could demand dipped and she was forced to sell her railroad car. The smaller towns she played housed theaters of lesser quality. Yet she starred in a 1929 two-reel film, St. Louis Dejection, a semiautobiographical effort that received some exposure through 1932.
Smith's lean years ended in 1937, as the recording manufacture again soared on the craziness of the early on Swing Era, spearheaded past the success of Benny Goodman'southward (1909–1986) band. Smith had proven adaptable throughout her career and could certainly swing with the all-time of them. Also, blues singing was experiencing a revival in popular taste.
Tragedy
On the morning time of September 26, 1937, Smith and her close friend Richard Morgan were driving from a Memphis performance to Darling, Mississippi, for the next mean solar day'due south show. Near Clarksdale, Mississippi, their automobile was involved in an accident resulting in Bessie Smith'due south expiry.
It was estimated that over 10 grand adoring fans attended the funeral of the blues singer who had become the largest-selling recording creative person of her day. In Early Jazz, Gunther Schuller heralded Smith equally "the showtime complete jazz vocalizer" whose influence on the legendary Billie Holiday (1915–1959) and a whole generation of jazz singers cannot be overestimated.
For More Information
Albertson, Chris. Bessie. New York: Stein and Mean solar day, 1972.
Brooks, Edward. The Bessie Smith Companion. New York: Da Capo, 1983.
Davis, Angela Yvonne. Dejection Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude 'Ma' Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday. New York: Pantheon, 1998.
Feinstein, Elaine. Bessie Smith. New York: Viking, 1985.
Kay, Jackie. Bessie Smith. New York: Stewart, Tabori, and Chang, 1997.
Source: https://www.notablebiographies.com/Sc-St/Smith-Bessie.html
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