Bledsoe enjoyed an operatic career in Europe and in the United States, where he sang with the Boston Symphony and the Municipal Opera Company of Cleveland. He became best-known as a member of the cast of Show Boat, which premiered at the Ziegfield Theater in 1927. Bledsoe created the role of Joe and sang the famous song "Ole Man River." In 1929 he repeated the role in the motion picture version of the story. Bledsoe won acclaim for his April, 1931 recital at Carnegie Hall and for his 1934 performance in the title role of the opera, Emperor Jones, performed at the Hippodrome in New York and later throughout this country and Europe. He also composed music, notably "African Suite" for violin and orchestra. James Weldon Johnson said of Bledsoe, "Like Robeson who has made a national reputation as an athlete, as an actor, and as a singer, Bledsoe is a very versatile man. In Deep River he sang a heroic baritone role; in Abraham's Bosom he played a dramatic and tragic part; and he was yet to play an entirely different character from either in Show Boat." Bledsoe lived at 409 Edgecombe Avenue briefly at the end of the 1920s. He died in Hollywood at the age of 44.