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Bessie Smith
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh, Jackie Kay
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
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Bessie Smith
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Summary
A 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.
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 passionate love affairs with men and women. She once single-handedly fought off a cohort of the Ku Klux Klan.
As a young black girl growing up in Glasgow, Jackie Kay found in Bessie someone with whom she could identify and who she could idolise. In this remarkable book Kay mixes biography, fiction, poetry and prose to create an enthralling account of an extraordinary life.
Critic reviews
"A wonderful writer on a magnificent singer." (Robert Wyatt)
"A passionate, personal, imaginative insight into Bessie's art." (Daily Mail)
"Biographies don't usually bring the subject to life again. This one did. I finished the book then started it again immediately." (Peggy Seeger)
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What listeners say about Bessie Smith
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 05-05-21
Thought provoking re the struggles of a great Tale
Struggled to finish it . someone else should have read it not the author . monotoned I'm afraid to say .
A very sad life for a very talented woman . dreadful that she perhaps could have been saved if she had been able to go to a White Hospital.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Hoops
- 22-02-21
A fan's obsession
I'd already read and heard a lot about Bessie Smith and had been anticipating more about her life and music. Instead, the author describes her lifelong passion and obsession with the "Empress of the Blues". That perspective, in itself, proved an interesting listen as were the autobiographical details of the author's life interspersed throughout the book. I don't think I would have selected this book if I'd paid close attention to what it was actually about. As it turned out an enjoyable and diverting listen from my usual choices. Well narrated.
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