Use "bessie smith" in a sentence

1. Some referred to actress, jazz and blues singer Bessie Smith as the Empress of the Blues, probably because her first record sold three quarter of a million copies

2. Joplin was a member of the local church choir and listened to blues singers Big Mama Thornton, Odetta and Eleanora Fagan, aka Billie Holiday and Lady Day; she noted that she was greatly influenced by Lead Belly, Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey

3. Around this time she took an interest in the music of Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong