What are Memphis Minnie, Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey most well-known for?
Me and Bessie capsule review for "Me and Bessie" that read, "The raw fervor of Linda Hopkins's blues singing is all that matters here, and it's enough. Unfortunately, the show is also burdened with a silly script by Will Holt, which consists mostly of having Miss Hopkins disavow the fact that she's Bessie Smith with all the fervor of a Kennedy disavowing politics." However, in 2011, Backstage magazine remembered Hopkin's performance as Smith: "It's been 36 years since I saw her in it at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, but she's stayed with me as the definitive Bessie Smith, and of
Ma Rainey is a fictionalized account of the recording of her song of the same title in December 1927. Sterling A. Brown wrote a poem, "Ma Rainey", in 1932, about how "When Ma Rainey / comes to town" people everywhere would hear her sing. Academy Award winner Mo'Nique played Rainey in the 2015 film "Bessie". This sortable table presents all 94 titles recorded by Rainey. Ma Rainey "Ma" Rainey (born Gertrude Pridgett, September 1882 or April 26, 1886 – December 22, 1939) was one of the earliest African-American professional blues singers and one of the first generation of blues singers to record.