Connie Smith is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist from Memphis, Tennessee. She has been playing guitar since she was eight years old and started writing songs at the age of 10. Her debut album “Lonely Girl” was released in 2008 and her second album “The Way I Am” was released in 2010.
Connie Smith is an American country music singer-songwriter. She has released four albums and has charted six singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
Connie Smith went from being a small-town Ohio housewife to country fame in less than a year, with a number one single to her credit. Smith is still regarded as one of the finest and most underappreciated singers in country music, despite being excessively compared to and associated with Patsy Cline. Her lonely desperation came directly from the heart; furthermore, Smith’s father was violent as a kid, leading her to have a mental breakdown in her adolescence.
Smith was born Constance Meadows in Elkhart, Indiana, on August 14, 1941, but spent her early years in West Virginia and Ohio. In the early 1960s, she married and became a homemaker, sometimes singing on local TV programs in Marietta, Ohio. In August 1963, she was singing in Columbus when country artist Bill Anderson heard her and promised to help her earn a contract. After a few months, she joined with RCA and in July 1964, she recorded six songs with Chet Atkins at the helm. “Once a Day,” a song written particularly for her by Anderson, was released as a single in September and spent eight weeks at the top of the country charts.
Smith’s follow-up, “Then and Only Then,” reached number four (the reverse side even made the Top 25), and her Top Ten run lasted until late 1968, with songs like “If I Talk to Him,” “Ain’t Had No Lovin’,” and “The Hurtin’ Is All Over.” Meanwhile, Smith’s fame started to wear her down; frequent appearances on the road, in films, and on The Lawrence Welk Show prompted her to rethink her career choice and dedicate herself to family and faith. Though she didn’t completely abandon music, she started to balance chart success with a more relaxed schedule. Smith nevertheless had Top Ten singles with “You and Your Sweet Love” in 1969, “I Never Once Stopped Loving You” the following year, and “Just One Time” in 1971, despite her country successes being fewer than in her mid-’60s heyday. 1972 was her most successful year in the 1970s. She had three major hits: “Just What I Am,” “If It Ain’t Love (Let’s Leave It Alone),” and “Love Is the Look You’re Looking For,” which peaked at number five.
Smith started incorporating more gospel into her performance around 1972. She transformed her live performance into a touring gospel road show with the assistance of her third husband, preacher Marshall Haynes, and signed with Columbia, which allowed her to record more pure gospel music. Despite the fact that the material didn’t perform as well as her secular songs, she spent most of the 1970s in the Top 20. Most of her songs fell out of the Top 40 when she joined with Monument in 1977. Despite the fact that she hasn’t been a commercial force since the 1970s, Smith continues to play with the Grand Ole Opry and released her first album in a long time in 1998, a self-titled effort on Warner Bros. Following the success of the album, Smith created Love Never Fails, a collaborative gospel album with Barbara Fairchild and Sharon White that was published by Daywind Records in 2003. Smith’s next studio album, Long Line of Heartaches, which was produced by Marty Stuart (Smith and Stuart have been married since 1997) and released by Sugar Hill Records in 2011, was nearly eight years in the making.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Connies first husband?
Connies first husband was named Harold.
Did Connie Smith pass away?
Where is Connie Smith originally from?
