Ada Beatrice Queen Victoria Louise Virginia Smith (August 14, 1894 – February 1, 1984), better known as Bricktop, was an American dancer, jazz singer, vaudevillian, and self-described saloon-keeper who owned the famous nightclub "Chez Bricktop" in Paris from 1924 to 1961, as well as clubs in Mexico City and Rome.

[2] It was there that saloon life caught her fancy, and where she acquired her nickname, "Bricktop," for the flaming red hair and freckles inherited from her grandfather.

At age 28, Smith was invited to sing at the Montmartre club Le Grand Duc owned by Eugène Bullard.

[4] Known for her signature cigars, the "doyenne of cafe society" drew many celebrated figures to her club, including Cole Porter, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

[citation needed][5] Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli wrote a song called "Brick Top," which they recorded in Paris in 1937 and in Rome in 1949.

In Paris, Bricktop began operating the clubs where she performed, including The Music Box and Le Grand Duc.

During World War II, she closed Chez Bricktop and moved to Mexico City, where she opened a new nightclub in 1944.

In 1949, she returned to Europe and started a club in Rome called "Roman Chez Bricktop"[6] located on the Via Veneto where she entertained famous guests including Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, and Martin Luther King, Jr.[7] Shortly after moving to Rome, Bricktop received a call from the first secretary, Amin, to the abdicated King Farouk.

Bricktop told Farouk, "Majesty, I didn't even allow my own mother to choose my friends for me."

She also recorded a few Cole Porter songs in New York City at the end of the seventies with pianist Dorothy Donegan.

The session was directed by Otis Blackwell and produced by Jack Jordan on behalf of the Sweet Box Company.

The songs recorded were "Love For Sale," "Miss Otis Regrets," "Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe," "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," "Am I Blue?," and "He's Funny That Way."

She remained active into her old age and according to James Haskins, had talked to friends on the phone hours before her death.

Both Lena Horne and Dorothy Dandridge were up to play Bricktop, though she preferred Pearl Bailey.

Bricktop commented that Bailey is "more familiar with my life" and that Dandrige "can't go the way I used to go at her age.