Bessie Smith began her career at the age of nine singing in the streets of Chattanooga, Tennessee. She joined a traveling vaudeville show as a dancer, but her real talent was singing.
By the 1920s, Smith had become the most popular blues singer in the country. Her fans called her the "Empress of the Blues." Smith made her first recording in 1923, "Down-Hearted Blues," which sold 750,000 copies. She made lots of money, but she spent it as fast as she made it.
When the Depression, radio, and talking movies stole the audience away from recorded music, Smith's career went downhill. She started a successful comeback as a Swing singer. In 1937, she died in a car accident.
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