Description
Book SynopsisA BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK
Bessie Smith: singer, icon, pioneer.
Scotland''s National Poet Jackie Kay brings to life the tempestuous story of the greatest blues singer who ever lived.
''A gem of a book . . . beautiful.'' BERNARDINE EVARISTO
''A wonderful writer on a magnificent singer.'' ROBERT WYATT
''Kay's book is the amplifier that Smith's voice deserves.'' SUNDAY TIMES
''The most vivid evocation of Bessie Smith I have ever read.'' IAN CARR, BBC MUSIC
BESSIE SMITH was born in Tennessee in 1894. Orphaned by the age of nine, she sang on street corners before becoming a big name in travelling shows. In 1923 she made her first recording for a new start-up called Columbia Records. It sold 780,000 copies and made her a star. Smith's life was notoriously difficult: she drank pints of bathtub gin', got into violent fist fights, spent huge sums of money and had
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'A passionate, personal, imaginative insight in to Bessie's art' - Daily Mail
'Kay has paid her [Bessie Smith] true and heartfelt homage' - Daily Telegraph
