Clara Smith

Clara Smith
Born	c. 1894 Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States
Died	February 2, 1935 Detroit, Michigan, United States
Genres	Classic female blues
Occupations	Singer
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1910s-1935
Labels	Columbia

Clara Smith (c. 1894 – February 2, 1935)^[1] was an American classic female blues singer. She was billed as the "Queen of the Moaners", although Smith actually had a lighter and sweeter voice than her contemporaries and main competitors.^[1]

Career

Smith was born in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. In her youth she worked on African American theater circuits and tent shows. By the late 1910s she was appearing as a headliner at the Lyric Theater in New Orleans, Louisiana and on the T.O.B.A. circuit.

In 1923 she settled in New York, appearing at cabarets and speakeasies there; that same year she made the first of her commercially successful series of gramophone recordings for Columbia Records, for whom she would continue recording through to 1932. She cut 122 songs often with the backing of top musicians (especially after 1925) including Louis Armstrong, Charlie Green, Joe Smith, Freddy Jenkins, Fletcher Henderson^[2] and James P. Johnson (in 1929). Plus she recorded two vocal duets with Bessie Smith, and four with Lonnie Johnson.

The comparisons with near namesake Bessie Smith were inevitable. Clara Smith was on the whole less fortunate than Bessie in her accompanists, and her voice was less imposing but, to some tastes, prettier, and many of her songs were interesting.^[3]

In 1933 she moved to Detroit, Michigan, and worked at theaters there until her hospitalization in early 1935 for heart disease, of which she died.^[4]

See also

• List of blues musicians
• Classic female blues
• List of Classic female blues singers
• List of vaudeville performers: L-Z

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Allmusic - accessed December 2007
2. ^ Abrams, Steven and Settlemier, Tyrone. "The Online Discographical Project - Columbia A3500 - A4001 (1921 - 1923) numerical listing". Retrieved January 14, 2011
3. ^ Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books Limited. pp. 167. ISBN 1-85868-255-X. 
4. ^ Dead Rock Stars Club

External links

• Gravemarker at Deadbluesguys website
• Discography at Redhotjazz website

Persondata
Name	Smith, Clara
Alternative names
Short description	American classic female blues singer
Date of birth	c. 1894
Place of birth	Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States
Date of death	2 February 1935
Place of death	Detroit, Michigan, United States