The blues originated from African-Americans on Southern plantations in the nineteenth century. Slaves, ex-slaves, and families of slaves were the main creators of blues music (Kopp, AllAboutJazz.com). Bessie Smith is known as the most popular female blues singer in the 1920s. Smith was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee on the fifteenth of April of 1894. Growing up, Smith did not really have her parents in her life due to them both dying while she was young, around eight or nine years-old (Editors Biography.com). Because of this, she was raised by her older siblings and aunt. At a very young age, Smith started singing and dancing on the streets of Chattanooga with her brother Andrew playing the guitar. When she was only eighteen, Smith worked with
