Entertainment & Arts
The most popular female recording artist of the 1920s, singer Bessie Smith was nicknamed “Empress of the Blues” for good reason.
March 2, 2017
Bessie used to thrill me at all times.
May 2, 1992
Television
Early on in “Bessie,” a new HBO biopic premiering Saturday and starring Queen Latifah as the singer Bessie Smith, Smith’s about-to-be mentor, Ma Rainey (played by Mo’Nique), offers a musicological lesson in show business.
May 16, 2015
Queen Latifah was a young rapper just beginning to dabble in acting when she was first approached about the possibility of playing the lead in a film about singer Bessie Smith.
Movies
Driving Miss Bessie: Oscar-winning producers Richard and Lili Zanuck are teaming again with their “Driving Miss Daisy” director, Bruce Beresford, for a biographical drama on the life of singer Bessie Smith.
April 29, 1992
“Bessie’s Blues,” a dazzling tribute to blues singer Bessie Smith, explodes on San Diego Repertory Theatre’s Lyceum Stage, thanks to the awesome talent of Bernardine Mitchell as Smith and a vocally stacked seven-person supporting cast.
Oct. 8, 1993
She was a 22-year-old rapper when she auditioned for the part of hard-living, Depression-era blues icon Bessie Smith.
Aug. 13, 2015
Music
***** BESSIE SMITH “The Complete Recordings Vol. 1” Columbia In these, her earliest recordings, Smith was inhibited by primitive, pre-electric technology.
June 16, 1991
“Bessie Smith--The Complete Recordings, Vol. 1,” a 38-song album set featuring the landmark blues singer’s earliest work from the ‘20s, highlights the second round of Columbia Records’ acclaimed “Roots n’ Blues” series.
April 19, 1991
Rapper Queen Latifah’s brush with big screen stardom still eludes her.
Oct. 4, 1992