O.C. Smith

O.C. Smith launched his career as a jazz singer before shifting toward country and R&B. The Louisiana native stepped in for Joe Williams with Count Basie’s orchestra in the early 1960s, after releasing a string of unsuccessful singles on Cadence and other labels during the 1950s. He remained with the Basie band from 1961 to 1963. A subsequent country phase yielded a hit single in “Son of Hickory Holler’s Tramp,” after which Smith embraced soul. His signature success arrived with “Little Green Apples,” which rose to number two on both the pop and R&B charts in 1968. Another strong R&B outing, “Daddy’s Little Man,” reached number nine in 1969. Columbia retained him until 1974, though no further major hits followed. He signed with Caribou in 1976 and later recorded for Shady Brooks, Family, Motown, and Rendezvous. Beginning in 1985 he divided his time between the studio and Christian ministry, founding The City of Angels Church of Religious Science in Los Angeles yet continuing to perform and record right up to his death on November 23, 2001.