In Netflix's new film Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Viola Davis stars as the heavy makeup-wearing, velvety-voiced, super confident Ma Rainey. Based on August Wilson's play of the same name, most of the ...

Queen Latifah is so convincing in the new HBO movie Bessie, that you will find yourself Googling the real Empress of Blues just to differentiate the two. The rapper turned actress mesmerizes as Bessie ...

HBO’s “Bessie,” a biopic premiering Saturday that stars Queen Latifah as the blues singer Bessie Smith, is a thoughtful and at times stirring example of how a film can add texture to a legendary ...

This essay is one in a series celebrating women whose major contributions in recording occurred before the time frame of NPR Music's list of 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women. She was big and brown ...

HBO’s biopic of blues singer Bessie Smith was an over 20-years-in-the-making project. It wasn’t until Pariah writer-director Dee Rees reworked the Bessie script and eventually landed the helming gig ...

In the opening minutes of ‘Bessie,’ the HBO biopic about blues legend Bessie Smith premiering Saturday, May 16th, the titular character absorbs the warmth of a single spotlight with an air of faint ...

Tika Sumpter plays Bessie Smith’s lover, Lucille, in the Queen Latifah-led HBO biopic premiering this weekend. Days after it was announced she would be playing First Lady Michelle Obama in another ...

Last month, we saw the first picture and teaser from HBO's upcoming Bessie, a biopic covering the life of blues songstress Bessie Smith, arguably the most exquisite set of pipes North America has ever ...

Bessie Smith was born into tragedy. Her parents died by the time she was 9, leaving her in the care of older siblings. A gifted singer, Smith was forever changed—perhaps even saved—by her rare talent ...

Figuring out what made Bessie Smith different from every other blues singer doesn’t require a Ph.D. in musicology. “Bessie was just more ballsy,” says Queen Latifah, who plays Smith in the HBO movie ...