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PLANS FOR LEGACY OF BLUES EMPRESS BESSIE SMITH BLOSSOMING EXPONENTIALLY
Lindsay Guion, Senior Entertainment Advisor to the Estate Announcement Touts Plans for Broadway Musical, Feature Film, Hollywood Walk of Fame Star and U.S. Postal Stamp Renewal
New York, NY -- The profound and pioneering legacy of singer/songwriter/entertainer Bessie Smith, "The Empress," is being gloriously prepped for a richly deserved and long overdue turn in the spotlight. A rollout of career-defining projects will make Bessie's name, life and story as relevant and indelible today as when the artist dominated the recording and performing world's in the 1920's. Upon the induction of Smith's granddaughter, Beverly Ann Clarke, as an honorary member to the board of The Bessie Smith Cultural Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee - by unanimous agreement - plans are underway for monumental memorials in Bessie Smith's honor.
These projects - already in development - include a full-scale musical play (i.e. Bessie on Broadway), a feature length theatrical motion picture (i.e. Bessie on the Big Screen), a prominently positioned star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and a re-establishment of her U.S. postal stamp, first minted in 1994. All of these works in progress follow the phenomenal success of the 2015 HBO made-for-television film Bessie (starring Queen Latifah) that garnered 24 prestigious industry awards including Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG and NAACP Image Awards honors. Partners in the Bessie Smith Estate include Sony Music Entertainment and Paul McCartney's MPL Communications (umbrella company for the former Beatle's business interests).
