She and her siblings are orphaned when their parents, William and Laura, die, leaving their oldest sister, Viola (Khandi Alexander), to raise them.

Bessie sneaks onto traveling performer Ma Rainey's (Mo'Nique) train compartment and asks to join her show.

In addition to her lover Lucille (Tika Sumpter), Bessie begins a tumultuous relationship with Jack Gee (Michael K. Williams), a security guard who later becomes her husband and manager.

Despite her own affair with bootlegger Richard Morgan (Mike Epps), Bessie is infuriated upon discovering that Jack is bankrolling his mistress, up and coming performer Gertrude Saunders.

After hearing Lucille Bogan's licentious hit song "Til the Cows Come Home", Bessie performs once again and meets a young John Hammond in 1932 who wishes to produce her comeback tour.

A first draft screenplay was written by playwright Horton Foote at a time when Columbia Pictures was slated to produce the film, but the project died when the studio became involved in a financial irregularity that threatened its existence.

The executive producer team also included Randi Michel who was praised by much of the production staff and talent as being "the key playmaker" in bringing the film onto its feet.

As part of the HBO deal, Queen Latifah is credited as one of the executive producers alongside her managers Shakim Compere, and Randi Michel.

The website's critics consensus reads: "Strong performances, led by Queen Latifah, overpower a middling script in the entertaining and informative Bessie.