Clara Smith

Clara Smith (March 13, 1894 – February 2, 1935)[1] was an American classic female blues singer. She was billed as the "Queen of the Moaners",[1] even though she had a lighter and sweeter voice than many of her contemporaries. She was not related to the singers Bessie Smith and Mamie Smith.

Clara Smith
BornMarch 13, 1894
Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States
Died(1935-02-02)February 2, 1935 (aged 41)
Detroit, Michigan, United States
GenresClassic female blues
Occupation(s)Singer
InstrumentsVocals
Years active1910–1935
LabelsColumbia

Career

Smith was born in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. In 1910 she began working on African-American theater circuits and in tent shows and vaudeville. By the late 1918[2] she was appearing as a headliner at the Lyric Theater in New Orleans, Louisiana and on the Theater Owners Bookers Association circuit.

In 1923, she settled in New York City, appearing at cabarets and speakeasies there; that same year she made the first of her commercially successful series of gramophone recordings for Columbia Records,[3] for which she recorded 122 songs, working with many other musicians such as Fletcher Henderson, Louis Armstrong,[4] and Don Redman.[5] She recorded two duets with Bessie Smith: "My Man Blues" and "Far Away Blues" (Columbia 14098-D), on September 1, 1925. She recorded Tom Delaney's "Troublesome Blues" in 1927.[6] Her May 1926 recording of "Whip It to a Jelly",[7] was noted as "one of the more overt sexual blues".[8]

In 1933 she moved to Detroit, Michigan, and worked at theaters in revues there until her hospitalization in early 1935 for heart disease, of which she died.[9]

See also

References
  1. Yanow, Scott. "Clara Smith: Artist Biography". AllMusic.com. Retrieved 2014-09-04.
  2. Kernfield, Barry (1988). New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Vol. 3. Macmillan. p. 608.
  3. Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books. p. 12. ISBN 1-85868-255-X.
  4. Abrams, Steven; Settlemier, Tyrone. The Online Discographical Project: Columbia A3500–A4001 (1921–1923) Numerical Listing. Retrieved January 14, 2011.
  5. Southern, Eileen (1982). Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians. Greenwood Press.
  6. Chadbourne, Eugene. "Tom Delaney: Artist Biography". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 2014-08-04.
  7. "Whip It to a Jelly / How'm I Doin' by Clara Smith". Rateyourmusic.com. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  8. Giles Oakley (1997). The Devil's Music. Da Capo Press. p. 110. ISBN 978-0-306-80743-5.
  9. Doc Rock. "The Dead Rock Stars Club: The 1950s and Earlier". Thedeadrockstarsclub.com. Retrieved 2014-09-04.
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