What awards did Bessie Smith win? Grammy Hall of Fame
Grammy Hall of Fame
The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of the recording arts. It is compiled by …
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What did Bessie Smith accomplish?
Bessie Smith was one of the greatest blues vocalists ever. She made 160 recordings in all, in many of which she was accompanied by some of the great jazz musicians of the 1920s and '30s, including Fletcher Henderson, Benny Goodman, and Louis Armstrong.
Did the movie Bessie win any awards?
Primetime Emmy Award for...Screen Actors Guild Award for...Directors Guild of America A...NAACP Image Award for...Primetime Creative Arts Emmy...Primetime Creative Arts Emmy...Bessie/Awards
When was Bessie Smith inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame?
Three of Smith's recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame: “Downhearted Blues,” “St. Louis Blues,” and “Empty Bed Blues” in 2006, 1993, and 1983, respectively.
Was Bessie Smith the highest paid black performer?
Bessie was the highest-paid Black performing artist in the country. She earned almost $2,000 per week traveling as the “Empress of the Blues.” Bessie's primary source of income and fame came through endless traveling. Her recordings were so popular that more theaters and clubs wanted to book her.
Is Bessie Smith still alive?
September 26, 1937Bessie Smith / Date of death
How accurate is the film Bessie?
Any biopic raises the question of how authentic the film was with its portrayal of the subject. Overall the consensus is that Bessie (2015) stays true to the root of Smith's journey and character, though not always to the details exactly as they happened.
Who has the most Grammy Hall of Fame?
Grammys Hall Of Fame: Which Stars #Own The Iconic Awards ShowKanye West - 21 Grammy Award Wins. ... Jay-Z - 19 Grammy Award Wins. ... Beyonce - 17 Grammy Award WIns. ... Alicia Keys - 14 Grammy Awards Wins. ... Eminem - 13 Grammy Award Wins. ... Adele - 10 Grammy Awards Wins. ... Usher - 8 Grammy Award Wins. ... Taylor Swift - 7 Grammy Award Wins.More items...
Who started the GRAMMYs?
The Grammy Awards were first presented by NARAS in Los Angeles in 1959, when 28 prizes were given. Winners included Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and the Kingston Trio. The number of awards has increased as musical genres have emerged.
How many people are in the Grammy Hall of Fame?
According to an Academy spokesperson, there are about 90 committee members on the Hall of Fame committee, compared to about 15 to 20 members on special merit awards committee. All must be voting members of the Recording Academy.
How many records did Bessie Smith sell?
Within a reported 10 months of signing Smith, the Columbia label sold two million records. Over the next four years, her sales reached six million. But she sang a wider repertoire as a featured performer in vaudeville, in her traveling tent show, on theatrical tours, and, later, in jazz clubs.
Why is jazz still popular today?
Jazz has spawned an influential, international lifestyle, an attitude toward life – the hot, the hip, and the cool – that is secular, obsessed with youth, fixated on the marginalized, and detached yet passionately self-centered, and that has attached itself to other forms of popular music, like rock and hip hop, as ...
Who was a famous blues singer 1920s?
Bessie SmithWith her subsequent recordings, Smith was one of the artists who propelled the fledgling "race records" market of music targeted to black audiences that had launched a few years earlier in 1920 with Mamie Smith's hit "Crazy Blues." Through the rest of the 1920s, Bessie Smith became one of the earliest stars of recorded ...
Is the movie Bessie based on a true story?
Yes. According to the account that Bessie's niece, Ruby Walker, gave to biographer Chris Albertson, the real-life events played out almost exactly as they do in the HBO Bessie movie.
What was the name of the only film that Bessie was in?
Bessie is an HBO TV film about the American blues singer Bessie Smith, and focuses on her transformation as a struggling young singer into "The Empress of the Blues"....Bessie (film)BessieStory byDee Rees Horton FooteDirected byDee Rees17 more rows
Who sang in the movie Bessie?
Queen LatifaQueen Latifa as Bessie Smith sings with such emotion and passion. It also includes songs featuring Kid Ory, Fats Waller and Louis Armstrong; for those of us who are passionate about the history of jazz this is a must - but do see the film! 5.0 out of 5 stars The song of Cecile McLorin Salvant is SUPER !!!!!
Did Ma Rainey know Bessie Smith?
Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith Forged a Powerful Friendship That Helped Bring Blues to the Mainstream. Smith's meeting with "The Mother of the Blues" early in her career changed their lives – and music – forever. Smith's meeting with "The Mother of the Blues" early in her career changed their lives – and music – forever.
How did Bessie Smith die?
She died from injuries sustained in a road accident. It was said that, had she been white, she would have received medical treatment that would have saved her life, and Edward Albee made this the subject of his play The Death of Bessie Smith (1960).
Who was the greatest blues singer?
Bessie Smith was one of the greatest blues vocalists ever. She made 160 recordings in all, in many of which she was accompanied by some of the great jazz musicians of the 1920s and ’30s, including Fletcher Henderson , Benny Goodman, and Louis Armstrong .
Who is the Empress of the Blues?
Known in her lifetime as the “Empress of the Blues,” Smith was a bold, supremely confident artist who often disdained the use of a microphone and whose art expressed the frustrations and hopes of a whole generation of black Americans. She was known for her rich contralto voice and her breathtaking emotional intensity.
Did Bessie Smith's singing ability decline?
Her gradually increasing alcoholism caused managements to become wary of engaging her, but there is no evidence that her actual singing ability ever declined. Bessie Smith. Bessie Smith, photograph by Carl Van Vechten, 1936. Carl Van Vechten Estate/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. LC-USZ62-11788.
Who was Bessie Smith married to?
Later Bessie married Richard Morgan who was also a friend and they stayed together till her death. On 26th of September in the year in 1937, Smith was travelling with Richard for a show in Memphis, when she met a terrible accident and was badly injured. While in hospital she succumbed to her injuries.
Where was Bessie Smith born?
Childhood & Early Life. On 15th April, 1894, Bessie was born in Chattanooga in Tennessee. She was among the seven children of William and Laura Smith. William earned his livings as a labourer and a part-time preacher. Bessie lost his parents at a tender age, and she was taken care of by Viola, her elder sister.
How many copies of Downhearted Blues did Bessie sell?
In her first album, she sang a track known as ‘Downhearted Blues’ which instantly became famous and sold an approximate of 800,000 copies. The chartbuster’s popularity made Bessie one of the most important names in Blues circuit.
What did Bessie bring to the Blues?
As a classic Blues singer, Bessie brought her heart and soul to music. This is probably the reason that she outshone others who recorded the same number. Bessie sung many of Ma Rainey’s numbers and her audience were picky as they always waited for Bessie’s tracks which were sincere and full of gusto.
Why was Bessie hired as a dancer?
With the initiation of her elder brother who was part of a travelling troupe, Bessie got an audition and was hired as dancer, because the troupe already had the famous singer Ma Rainey. She worked hard for the next few years performing in chorus lines, and shows.
Why did Bessie and Andrew start performing on the streets?
To combat financial crunch, Bessie and her brother Andrew started performing on streets. Bessie’s older brother Clarence who was part of a travelling troupe decided to take her to an audition for the troupe recognising her singing talent.
Why did Columbia drop Bessie?
With the Great Depression, Bessie was no longer recording with Columbia. It is said that the financial damage combined with the decreasing interest in classic blues led the recording company to drop Bessie from their roster. However, she was still very popular in South and her shows drew huge audience.
Overview
In popular culture
The 1948 short story "Blue Melody", by J. D. Salinger, and the 1959 play The Death of Bessie Smith, by Edward Albee, are based on Smith's life and death, but poetic license was taken by both authors; for instance, Albee's play distorts the circumstances of her medical treatment, or lack of it, before her death, attributing it to racist medical practitioners. The circumstances related by both Salinger and Albee were widely circulated until being debunked at a later date by Smith's bi…
Biography
The 1900 census indicates that her family reported that Bessie Smith was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on April 15, 1894. The 1910 census gives her age as 16, and a birth date of April 15, 1894, which appears on subsequent documents and was observed as her birthday by the Smith family. The 1870 and 1880 censuses report three older half-siblings, but later interviews with Smith's family and contemporaries do not mention them.
Personal life
In 1923, Smith was living in Philadelphia when she met Jack Gee, a security guard, whom she married on June 7, 1923, just as her first record was being released. During the marriage, Smith became the highest-paid black entertainer of the day, heading her own shows, which sometimes featured as many as 40 troupers, and touring in her own custom-built railroad car. Their marriage was stormy with infidelity on both sides, including numerous female sex partners for Bessie. Gee …
Musical themes
Songs like "Jail House Blues", "Work House Blues", "Prison Blues", "Sing Sing Prison Blues" and "Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair" dealt critically with social issues of the day such as chain gangs, the convict lease system and capital punishment. "Poor Man's Blues" and "Washwoman's Blues" are considered by scholars to be an early form of African-American protest music.
What becomes evident after listening to her music and studying her lyrics is that Smith emphasi…
Digital remastering
Technical faults in the majority of her original gramophone recordings (especially variations in recording speed, which raised or lowered the apparent pitch of her voice) misrepresented the "light and shade" of her phrasing, interpretation and delivery. They altered the apparent key of her performances (sometimes raised or lowered by as much as a semitone). The "center hole" in some of the master recordings had not been in the true middle of the master disc, so that there were w…
Further reading
• Albertson, Chris (1991). Bessie Smith: The Complete Recordings, Volumes 1–5 (Liner notes). Sony Music Entertainment.
• Albertson, Chris (2003). Bessie. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-09902-9.
• Barnet, Andrea (2004). All-Night Party: The Women of Bohemian Greenwich Village and Harlem, 1913–1930. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Algonquin Books. ISBN 978-1-56512-381-6.