A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK

Bessie Smith: singer, icon, pioneer.
Scotland's National Poet Jackie Kay brings to life the tempestuous story of the greatest blues singer who ever lived.
'A wonderful writer on a magnificent singer.' ROBERT WYATT
'The most vivid evocation of Bessie Smith I have ever read.' IAN CARR, BBC MUSIC
'Biographies don't usually bring the subject to life again. This one did. I finished the book then started it again immediately.' PEGGY SEEGER

'What a life! What gulpable storytelling! Exactly the kind of writing about music we need: personal, ardent, playfully confrontational, questioning, undogmatic. A love song to a complicated idol' KATE MOLLESON

'Pure joy: one trailblazing woman pays tribute to another. Jackie Kay finds the music in the short, dazzling, capricious life of Bessie Smith'HELEN...