O.C. Smith… Gentleman Storyteller
by Chris Beachley
His peers have labeled singer O.C. Smith, a troubadour and storyteller. He had taken
that expertise in communication to the pulpit for the last years of his life and has now gone to his just reward,
passing away quietly at his home in Los Angeles early Friday morning, November 23, 2001.
Ocie Lee Smith was born on June 21, 1936, in Mansfield, Louisiana. His parents, both teachers, moved the family to Little Rock,
Arkansas. At age 13, following the split-up of his mom and dad, Ocie and his mother moved to Los Angeles.
He enjoyed high school sports and began singing at parties, social events and school functions. His college years were spent at Southern University in Baton
Rouge. After
school, Ocie joined the Air Force performing as an entertainer on military bases all over the world from 1951-1955.
After his discharge, Ocie joined Sy Oliver’s band as a vocalist.
He enjoyed a very successful appearance on “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts”.
The right people
were watching. Mr. Smith got a contract with Cadence records.
His time at Cadence produced no hits. In the early '60s, Ocie was hired to replace Joe Williams
in Count Basie’s band. During
a short stint with Basie, Ocie developed a following and left the band for a solo career.
In 1966, a live album on Columbia Records was released as “The Dynamic O.C. Smith” that made little noise other
than to show off his talents. The jazz and pop experience paid off as the hits began in 1968, with “The Son of Hickory Holler’s
Tramp”, his biggest hit ever, the Grammy nominated “Little Green Apples” (number 2 on the Pop AND R & B charts
, and “Daddy’s Little Man” along with others.
His last chart record for Columbia Records came in 1974. Mr. Smith moved to three other small labels before recording
for Motown.
It was that album that began a love affair with the Southeast United States that will last forever. The Motown album, “Love
Changes” produced three great songs: “I Betcha”, “I’m Glad I Fell In Love With You” and “We’re Making Love, We’re
Making Music”.
In 1979, O.C. Smith was searched out by Charles Wallert who wanted to produce music with this great talent. Wallert conveyed to me
that O.C. Smith was one of the most gentle and modest people he had ever known and they always enjoyed their time
together. Charles
told me a story of how Frank Sinatra asked Lena Horne to take him to a performance of O.C.’s and how Frank Sinatra
and O.C. became friends. In that conversation was also mention of when O.C. and Sinatra sang a duet of “All The Way” (wouldn’t
you like to have that!) O.C.
Smith loved the people in the Carolinas, who saw sincerity in his presence and music.
It was Friday, November 23, 2001, I was in The Wax Museum. Chuck Jackson called to tell me of O.C. Smith’s passing. Chuck Jackson first met O.C. Smith in the
mid-sixties when Jackson covered “Little Green Apples”.
Later O.C., Chuck and Charles Wallert would work together on a project “Love
Times 3”. Included in that project was the beautiful “After All Is Said And Done” that I personally play very often
and suggest for couples celebrating an anniversary.
In 1985, another O.C. Smith emerged. He had become very interested in the teachings of
Religious Science and studied for several years to become a minister. In October of that year,
the Reverend O.C. Smith and his wife, Robbie founded the City of Angels Science of Mind Center in Los Angeles.
During the next 17 years, O.C. Smith wore two hats - that of reverend and that of recording artist/concert performer.
O.C. Smith’s years with Rendezvous produced some fantastic dance tunes for shaggers of the Southeast… “What’Cha
Gonna Do”, “You’re The First, The Last, My Everything” and in the top 5 Beach Music songs of all time… “Brenda”.
O.C. also sang the themes for the motion pictures, “The Learning Tree” and “Shaft’s Big Score”.
In 2000, Judy Collins released the fantastic CD called “Beach Music Classics And Love Songs”. Judy remembers Mr. Smith as “being down to earth, humble
and amazed at how much people in the Carolinas loved his music”.
A current collaboration of O.C. Smith, Charles Wallert and Judy
Collins is an excellent cover version of the Drifters classic,
“Save The Last Dance For Me”
On Thursday, Reverend Smith had delivered an hour-long Thanksgiving sermon in his church, gone home and had Thanksgiving
dinner. He napped in the early evening and went to bed later and never awakened. A man quiet and calm in his life,
left it the same way. Known
by his peers as a gentleman that always had a kind or soothing word.
With the many friends and fans across the United States, memorial tributes For Mr. Smith will be held later in
New York and in the Carolinas. Fans of Beach Music will never forget the man that gave us… “Brenda”.
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O.C. Smith, 65; Jazz, Pop Singer Became Minister
By JON THURBER, TIMES STAFF WRITER
O.C. Smith, the onetime jazz singer in the Count Basie band who found popular success in the late 1960s with songs
like "That's Life" and the Grammy-award winning "Little Green Apples," died Friday, 11/24/2001.
He was 65.
Smith, who in later years left the entertainment business for a career in the ministry, died suddenly at his Ladera
Heights home. The cause of death was not immediately clear, but he had been in generally good health, church officials
said Friday. Smith officiated at a Thanksgiving service Thursday.
Born Ocie Lee Smith in Mansfield, La., Smith moved to Los Angeles at an early age with his mother, a music teacher.
Attending Jefferson High School, Smith learned music from the legendary teacher Samuel Brown, who instructed several
top musicians over the years, including singer Ernie Andrews and saxophonists Dexter Gordon and Frank Morgan. Smith
said his early influences were not singers but great bebop players like Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. Smith
joined the Air Force after high school and although assigned to the Air Police in Alaska, spent a good bit of time
singing in a special services band.
He landed in New York City after his discharge and, over the next several years, found work in small clubs and
in the Catskills singing ballads, blues, anything to pay the bills.
In early 1961, Smith auditioned successfully for Count Basie and joined the band, replacing the legendary Joe Williams.
Smith called Basie "an ideal leader."
"I had a free hand to sing what I liked and I got to see a lot of the world over the next 2 1/2 years,"
he said. Smith also recorded several songs for Roulette Records.
"Band experience is the best background any singer can hope for," Smith later told Leonard Feather, the
jazz critic and producer. "You learn about people everywhere."
After Basie, Smith worked the club and concert circuit across the country, toured the Far East for several months
and settled in Los Angeles afterward. Columbia soon signed him to a contract and expanded his repertoire.
He had fairly good success with the song "That's Life," which Frank Sinatra turned into gold years later
and, in 1968, he attained his first commercial breakthrough record with Dallas Frazier's story-song "The Son
of Hickory Holler's Tramp," which became a big hit in Britain.
Then came his version of Bobby Russell's "Little Green Apples," winner of the Grammy as song of the year
in 1968. A year later, Smith had another big R&B single, "Daddy's Little Man" in 1969, which hit
No. 9 on the charts.
Smith recorded a number of other songs and albums that were not as successful. He ended his association with Columbia
in 1974 but recorded off and on for various labels and continued working on the road.
In 1980, Smith's life began to take a new direction after friends invited him to attend a Science of the Mind service
at the Wilshire Ebel Theater.
"Dr. Joseph Murphy, whom I had heard speak that morning, became my teacher," he told The Times in 1987.
"I connected soon afterward with a presence that told me which direction I should take."
Although Smith began studying for the ministry and graduated in January 1985, he wasn't ready to give up full-time
entertaining.
"I wanted the presence to reveal the right time to me," he said. "Well, that summer I began to get
the feeling that the moment had come to pull back a little on the reins of show business. The next step was to
find a place where I could work regularly in the ministry."
He found that place in the ballroom of a building near Los Angeles International Airport that had burned down a
couple of years earlier and was being reopened.
In October 1985, with the Rev. O.C. Smith officiating, the City of Angels Church of Religious Science opened on
Aviation Boulevard.
The church moved into its own building on Grosvenor Boulevard in Los Angeles six years ago.
Smith is survived by his wife, Robbie Gholson Smith; two daughters, Sherryn Smith and Bonnie Dykes; five sons,
Ocie Lee Smith III, Kelly T. Smith, Robert F. Smith, Jesse Hayes IV and Frank Hayes; and 10 grandchildren.
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