Bessie Smith, the greatest of all blues singers, is known as the "Empress of the Blues". A protégé of an earlier blues singer named Ma Rainey, Bessie recorded during the 1920s. Her flair and dramatic style would set the stage for many artists to come, including other transitional favorites from the 1950's, such as Etta James and Dinah Washington. Bessie Smith died at the young age of forty-three in a tragic automobile accident.