Carrie Smith

Jazz and blues singer whose greatest success was in the hit Broadway musical Black and BlueCarrie Smith, who has died aged 86 of cancer, was a blues diva and distinctive jazz singer who straddled both worlds with commendable aplomb. Although her early career was largely small-scale, her breakthrough came when she played the role of Bessie Smith in a well-received performance at Carnegie Hall in New York in 1974, kickstarting a lengthy association with the pianist Dick Hyman's projects and freque...

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