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 Oscar-nominated actress will play Bessie Smith in the upcoming HBO Film Queen Latifah is bringing back the blues. The Oscar nominee, 45, will pay tribute to Bessie Smith – the so-called Empress of ...

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 ...

The most popular female recording artist of the 1920s, singer Bessie Smith was nicknamed “Empress of the Blues” for good reason. Smith’s soulful contralto renditions of standards and her original ...

"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 ...

In her latest role, Queen Latifah adopts the persona of a 20th century legend. Our Mark Strassmann met up with her for some Questions-and-Answers: At 45, Queen Latifah is playing a part she was first ...

On this day, 100 years ago, Columbia Records held a recording session with a singer named Bessie Smith. The country at large didn't know her then, but soon found out because she was launching a career ...

She was a 22-year-old rapper when she auditioned for the part of hard-living, Depression-era blues icon Bessie Smith. But Queen Latifah believed, even as a new actress, that she could bring something ...

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" — ...