Kathryn Elizabeth Smith (May 1, 1907 – June 17, 1986) was an American contralto.[1][2][3][4] Referred to as The First Lady of Radio, Smith is well known for her renditions of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" & "When The Moon Comes Over The Mountain". In more recent times, she has also been associated with controversial songs containing racially insensitive themes and undertones. She had a radio, television, and recording career spanning five decades, which reached its pinnacle in the 1940s. She became known as The Songbird of the South because of her tremendous popularity during World War II.
She was born on May 1, 1907, in Greenville, Virginia, to Charlotte 'Lottie' Yarnell (née Hanby) and William Herman Smith, growing up in Washington, D.C.[5] Her father owned the Capitol News Company, distributing newspapers and magazines in the greater D.C. area.[6] She was the youngest of three daughters, the middle child dying in infancy. She failed to talk until she was four years old,[6] but a year later she was singing at church social events. By the time she was eight, she was singing for the troops at Army camps in the Washington area during World War I. Smith never had a singing lesson in her life and possessed a 'rich range' of two and a half octaves. Her earliest performances were during amateur nights at vaudeville theaters in D.C.
Her earliest musical influences were her parents: her father sang in the choir at the Catholic church; her mother played piano at the Presbyterian church. She attended Business High School in D.C. (now Theodore Roosevelt High School), likely graduating in 1924. Alarmed by his daughter's evident penchant for the stage, her father sent her to the George Washington University School for Nursing where she attended classes for nine months between 1924 and 1925, withdrawing to pursue a career in show business.[7]
She got herself on the bill at Keith's Theater in Boston as a singer. Heading the bill was the actor and producer Eddie Dowling, who recruited the young singer for a revue he was preparing. It was called Honeymoon Lane, and opened in Atlantic City, New Jersey on August 29, 1926. A month later, it moved to Broadway.
In her later years, Smith was impaired by diabetes. In 1976, she suffered brain damage after slipping into a diabetic coma. After she emerged from the coma, her family helped her move in 1979 to Raleigh, North Carolina. In January 1986, Smith's right leg was amputated due to poor circulation caused by diabetes. Five months later, she underwent a mastectomy.[31] On June 17, 1986, Smith died of respiratory arrest at Raleigh Community Hospital in Raleigh at the age of 79.[32]
Patricia Castledine (1939-2021) was Smith's live-in nurse until the last day of her life.[33] Castledine became the president of the Kate Smith Fan Club after Smith's death and continued to hold that post until her own death in 2021.
For over a year following her death, Smith's remains were stored in a vault at St. Agnes Cemetery in Lake Placid, while officials of St. Agnes Church and the singer's executors engaged in a dispute over Smith's request to be buried in a mausoleum on the cemetery's grounds. Her private burial service was held on November 14, 1987.[34]
Legacy[edit source]
She did a command performance for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth at the White House on June 8, 1939.[35] She received a Drake University medallion for "outstanding contributions to radio and the people".[36] Smith was inducted posthumously into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1999.[37] She was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2009.[38] In 2010, the U.S. postal service issued a commemorative stamp featuring a duplication of artwork created for the cover of a CD titled Kate Smith: The Songbird of the South. The artwork was based on a photograph of Smith taken in the 1960s.[39]
Presidential Medal of Freedom[edit source]
On October 26, 1982, Smith received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor, by U.S. President Ronald Reagan. In bestowing the honor, Reagan said:
The voice of Kate Smith is known and loved by millions of Americans, young and old. In war and peace, it has been an inspiration. Those simple but deeply moving words, "God bless America", have taken on added meaning for all of us because of the way Kate Smith sang them. Thanks to her they have become a cherished part of all our lives, an undying reminder of the beauty, the courage, and the heart of this great land of ours. In giving us a magnificent, selfless talent like Kate Smith, God has truly blessed America.[40]
It was not the first time Smith had been saluted by a president. In 1969, in light of Jim Morrison's arrest in Miami for indecent exposure, Smith had performed with The Lettermen, Anita Bryant, and Jackie Gleason in a concert demonstration against indecency, for which President Richard Nixon commended the stars' performances.[41]
