Posted by | Ray Cornelius
Indie Wire is reporting that multi-award winning rapper, actress, singer and producer Queen Latifah will star in an HBO biopic about the ‘Empress of Blues’ Bessie Smith.
Reportedly, Latifah’s Flavor Unit Entertainment is partnering with HBO, The Zanuck Company, and Shelby Stone Productions for a film based on the life and times of the celebrated blues pioneer. The project is titled Blue Goose Hollow, named after the area of Chattanooga, Tennessee where the singer was born and raised. The film will also be written and directed by Dee Rees of Pariah fame and is said to start production this summer in Atlanta.
Bessie Smith is considered by many to be the greatest blues singers of all time and at one point was the highest paid African-American performer of the 1920’s. During her career, Smith worked with such musical greats as Ma Rainey aka The Mother of Blues, Clarence Williams and the Fletcher Henderson Band including Louis Armstrong. Smith had over 200 recording before she died in 1936 after an automobile accident.
RC will keep you posted as more of this project continues to develop.
Photo Credit: Instyle.com
