Artist Detailed Info: Ruby Smith

Ruby Smith (1903–1977) was a U.S. blues singer.

She was born Ruby Walker on the 24th August 1903 in New York, United States. She was a niece, by marriage, of the better known Bessie Smith, who discouraged her from a recording career. Nevertheless, following her aunt's death in 1937, she went on to record twenty-one sides between 1938 and 1947. She is also known for her recorded explicit and candid observations on her own and her aunt's lifestyle

She met Bessie Smith after her aunt had made her debut recording in February 1923, and joined her on tour in 1924. Ruby assisted off-stage with costume changes, and provided entertainment in the intermissions with her dancing. Although Ruby's thoughts of a career as a singer were initially thwarted in 1926 by Bessie's insistence, she continued to travel with Bessie on tour. In Atlanta, Georgia, Ruby spent a night in the cells after being discovered bringing moonshine for her aunt to consume. In 1927, Ruby was part of the female entourage led by Bessie to the 'buffet flats' in Detroit, Michigan.

Later Jack Gee, Bessie's then husband, implored Ruby to take the musical stage, after her aunt had walked out in Indianapolis, Indiana. However, the deception did not last long, and in the event Bessie died tragically in 1937. Shortly afterwards, she adopted the stage name of Ruby Smith, and less than a year later recorded six tracks including a cover version of Bessie's "Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair Blues". At the same session she recorded her version of Alex Hill's "Draggin' My Heart Around".

In March 1939 Smith, under the musical direction of James P. Johnson, recorded "He's Mine, All Mine", and the Bessie Smith co-composition with Johnson, "Backwater Blues". In December 1941, backed by an ensemble led by Sammy Price, she recorded two more tracks: "Why Don't You Love Me Anymore?" and her own song, "Harlem Gin Blues". Her final recording sessions took place in August 1946 and in January the following year, when she was backed by Gene Sedric's band.

Smith died on the 24th March 1977 in Anaheim, California, at the age of seventy-three.

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