Kate Smith

Known as the "Songbird of the South," vocalist Kate Smith ranked among the era's leading entertainers before World War II, though her legacy rests chiefly on her authoritative reading of the patriotic standard "God Bless America," a recording that registered as a hit three distinct times. Born Kathryn Elizabeth Smith in Washington, D.C., on May 1, 1907, she first studied nursing before turning to professional singing in the early 1920s and soon heading to New York for vaudeville and Broadway work, among them a role in Honeymoon Lane in 1926.

Equipped with a commanding contralto, she joined Columbia in 1927 and introduced her first release, "One Sweet Letter From You," with Red Nichols' Charleston Chasers providing accompaniment. She launched her own radio program in 1931, adopting "When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain" as its theme; the number quickly emerged as her initial major success and ultimately sold roughly 19 million copies.

Smith achieved her next major hit in 1932 with "River, Stay 'Way from My Door," cut alongside Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians; the ensemble later supported her on "Too Late," another Top Ten entry that year, bringing her Columbia output to two dozen charted sides between 1927 and 1946. American audiences relied on her steady presence through the Depression years, yet she attained lasting national stature in 1938 upon recording Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" for Victor; the track's swift acclaim positioned it as an unofficial anthem, and it returned to the charts in both 1940 and 1942 after the United States entered World War II.

Alongside her radio work, she appeared on screen in The Big Broadcast of 1932 and This Is the Army in 1943, then hosted an afternoon television series from 1951 to 1954. Smith sustained her career after the 1964 death of her longtime manager Ted Collins, though declining health set in several years later and she succumbed to diabetes on June 17, 1986.