Bessy Smith - Tain't Nobodys Business If I Do (1923)
Bessie Smith (jul.9,1892 or apr.15,1894 - sep.26,
1937) was
Americas most popular female blues singer of the
1920s and '30s.
Smith is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era, and along with
Louis Armstrong, a major influence on subsequent jazz vocalists.
As a way of earning money for their impoverished household, Smith and her brother
Andrew began performing on the streets of
Chattanooga as a duo, she singing and dancing, he accompanying on guitar; their preferred location was in front of the
White Elephant Saloon at
Thirteenth and Elm streets in the heart of the city's African-American community.
In 1904, her oldest brother,
Clarence, covertly left home by joining a small traveling troupe owned by
Moses Stokes. "If
Bessie had been old enough, she would have gone with him," said Clarence's widow,
Maud. "That's why he left without telling her, but Clarence told me she was ready, even then. Of course, she was only a child."
In 1912, Clarence returned to Chattanooga with the Stokes troupe and arranged for its managers, Lonnie and
Cora Fisher, to give her an audition. She was hired as a dancer rather than a singer, because the company also included
Ma Rainey.
By the early 1920s, Smith had starred with
Sidney Bechet in
How Come?, a musical that made its way to
Broadway, and spent several years working out of
Atlanta, Georgia's 81
Theater, performing in black theaters along the
East Coast.
Following a run-in with the producer of How Come?, she was replaced by
Alberta Hunter and returned to
Philadelphia, where she had taken up residence. There, she met and fell in love with
Jack Gee, a security guard whom she married on June 7, 1923, just as her first recordings were being released by
Columbia Records. The marriage was a stormy one, with infidelity on both sides. During the marriage, Smith became the biggest headliner on the black
Theater Owners Booking Association (
T.O.B.A.) circuit, running a show that sometimes featured as many as 40 troupers and made her the highest-paid black entertainer of her day. Gee was impressed by the money, but never adjusted to show business life, and especially not
Smith's bisexuality. In 1929, when Smith learned of Gee's affair with another performer,
Gertrude Saunders, she ended the marriage, but never sought a legal divorce. Smith eventually found a common-law husband in an old friend,
Richard Morgan, who was
Lionel Hampton's uncle and the antithesis of her husband. She stayed with him until her death.
Bessy Smith -
Tain't Nobodys
Business If I Do (1923)