https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000skc4
BBC RADIO 4 EXTRA
jackie Kay examines the rumours and controversies around the death of blues singer Bessie Smith.

She was driving to a gig with her partner when his car crashed. Her second husband tries to claim he was still in her life and gets money from royalties.

Years after Bessie's first funeral - Janis Joplin helps to pay for a headstone.

Orphaned by the age of nine, Bessie sang on the street to support her siblings and was swept into travelling shows as a young woman.

Facing extreme racial prejudice, she frequently brawled under the influence of bathtub gin and had tumultuous love affairs with men and women. She also sold hundreds of thousands of records and became a genuine superstar.

“The first time I saw Bessie Smith, it really was like finding a friend…”

Poet Jackie Kay charts the rise and fall of Bessie Smith as she brings to life the dramatic story of the greatest blues singer who ever lived.

Mixing biography, fiction, music and memoir, Jackie remembers the electric thrill of identification when, as a young black girl growing up in Glasgow, she was first gifted the music of the Empress. Jackie was thrilled by some of Bessie's naughtier lyrics.

Abridged by Rosemary Goring

Concluded by Jackie Kay.

From 2016 to 2021, Jackie Kay was the Makar - Scotland's poet laureate.