麻豆社

Scotland鈥檚 National Poet Jackie Kay examines the rumours and controversies around the death of 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 Smith 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.

鈥淭he first time I saw Bessie Smith, it really was like finding a friend鈥︹��

Mixing biography, fiction, music and memoir, the Makar 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.

Abridged by Rosemary Goring

Read by Jackie Kay with Adjoa Andoh

Produced by Eilidh McCreadie

First broadcast on 麻豆社 Radio 4 in February 2021.