Bessie Smith Photographs by Carl Van Vechten: Picture 3
The Empress of the Blues: Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith first received $125 per recording from her contract with Columbia Records. She later renegotiated and got $200. The contract did not include royalties. Twice, Columbia Records nearly went bankrupt, and her recordings were among those that helped the company get back to financial solvency.
Pictures in this series: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Index
Images of Bessie Smith courtesy of Library of Congress. This image is a detail of Picture 2 in this series.
