Artists+Of+Blues

By Marcus & Max

media type="youtube" key="8Who6fTHJ34?rel=0" height="349" width="425" Bessie Smith was sometimes refered to as the "Empress of the Blues". She was the most popular female blues artist in the 1920's and 30's. Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee she earned money by busking with her brother Andrew as a duo. She would sing and dance and he would accompany her on guitar.
 * Bessie Smith- (1894-1937)**

Smith began preforming her own act in 1913 at Atlanta's "81" Theatre. By 1920 she had established a reputation in the South and on the Eastern seaboard.

She scored a big hit with a few of her first releases including "Gulf Coast Blues" and "Downhearted Blues". She was signed to Columbia records and made a good 160 recordings with them. Columbian had given her the nickname "Queen of the Blues".

Her career was cut short by the great depression. She didn't stop performing however, with continued touring and playing in clubs. She was also part of a Broadway production in 1929 called Pansy.

The video above shows Smith's appearance in the film "Saint Louis Blues".

On September 26th, 1937, she was injured in a car accident. She was taken to hospital where her arm was amputated. She died that morning without regaining consciousness. It was rumoured she had died as a result of refusing to be admitted to a "whites only" hospital. 10,000 people attended her funeral in Philadelphia.


 * Charles Brown (1992-1999)**

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As a child Charles demonstrated his love of music and started classical piano lessons. Early on, Brown moved out to Los Angeles, where a large amount of blacks created an integrated nightclub scene in which black performers tended to play rougher blues and create there own styles of blues.


 * David "Honeyboy" Edwards (1915) **

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David Edwards is a delta blues guitarist from South America. He was born in 1915 and is currently 96 years old and still playing shows. He is one of the last living original "delta blues" players left. Honeyboy has released 15 albums and made numerous t.v and movie appearances the most recent being Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, where he plays an old blues player who teaches Dewey the ways of Blues guitar playing.

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 * Lead Belly (1888-1949)**

His real name was Huddie William Ledbetter but was better known as Lead Belly. As a young kid he was already dubbed as being a musician by playing guitar amongst other things. In 1918 he was imprisoned for killing a relative over a fight about a girl. He spent the minimum time of his 35 year sentence by writing a song for the then governor, appealing for his freedom. He had appealed to the governors strong religious beliefs and his good behaviour in prison (performing for the gaurds and inmates) got him out in 7 years. 5 years later in 1930 he was back in prison for knifing a white man. It was three years later in prison that he was "discovered" by folklorist John Lomax who was impressed by his style and signed him to record an album. In 1934 he was released from prison again and started recording with better equiptment. Lead Belly was the "king of the 12 string guitar". Interesting fact: Lead Belly had a little sister named Australia.


 * ........... And Here's A Photo Of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson**