62 Facts About Connie Smith

Connie Smith was born on Constance June Meador; August 14,1941 and is an American country music singer and songwriter.

In 1991, Trisha Yearwood's debut single went to number one for two weeks, but Connie Smith still held the record for the most number of weeks at number one by any female country artist in history.

Connie Smith's success continued through 1960s and mid 1970s with 19 more top-10 hits on the country songs chart.

Connie Smith eventually went into semi-retirement in 1979 and returned to recording briefly in the mid-1980s with Epic Records.

Critically acclaimed, Connie Smith began performing again and has recorded two more studio albums.

Connie Smith has been nominated for 11 Grammy Awards, including eight nominations for Best Female Country Vocal Performance.

Connie Smith has been nominated for one Academy of Country Music award and three Country Music Association awards.

Connie Smith has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry cast since 1965.

In 2012, Connie Smith was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Connie Smith's parents were originally from West Virginia, and when Smith was five months old, the family returned there.

Connie Smith's biological father was an alcoholic, and he was abusive to Smith's family.

Connie Smith's mother divorced her biological father when she was a child and remarried to Tom Clark.

Connie Smith's stepfather brought eight children to the marriage, and Meador brought five.

Connie Smith's stepfather played mandolin, while her brother played fiddle, and her other brother played guitar.

Connie Smith took up the guitar following a lawnmower accident, which nearly cut her leg off.

Connie Smith worked as a drugstore clerk, a dental assistant and in a grocery store.

Connie Smith's husband encouraged her singing, and she began performing with more frequency.

Connie Smith was fired following her first performance, later theorizing it was because she was pregnant.

In January 1964, Connie Smith ran into Anderson again at a country music package concert in Canton, Ohio.

Connie Smith invited her to perform with him on Ernest Tubb's Midnite Jamboree program in Nashville, Tennessee.

When Connie Smith performed on the program in March 1964, she found out that she would not be performing with Anderson, but instead with Ernest Tubb.

Also impressed by her vocals, Atkins offered Connie Smith a recording contract, and she signed on June 24,1964.

Two days later, Connie Smith made her debut on the Grand Ole Opry.

Connie Smith started performing more regularly with "Once a Day"'s success.

Connie Smith made her first network television appearance in October 1964 on ABC's The Jimmy Dean Show.

Connie Smith had additional top five Billboard country singles through early 1966 with Anderson's "Nobody But a Fool " and Priscilla Mitchell's "If I Talk to Him".

In 1965, Connie Smith became a member of the Grand Ole Opry radio show.

Connie Smith was against the pop production but nevertheless agreed to try it.

The LP included covers of popular country recordings of the era and "Cry, Cry, Cry", a single by Connie Smith that reached the top 20.

Connie Smith later commented that "it was an honor, not a favor" to record an album of all Anderson tunes.

Connie Smith remained at her commercial zenith through 1967 with a continued series of top 10 recordings.

Connie Smith was making multiple appearances on film and television while attempting to balance touring with a family life.

Connie Smith devoted the remainder of her time to family life and made efforts to appear on more Christian music programs.

Connie Smith worked alongside ministers Billy Graham and Rex Humbard.

Connie Smith's version reached the top 20 of the Billboard country singles chart.

Biographer and writer Barry Mazor found that Connie Smith's recordings had "a new delicacy of phrasing that shows itself".

In 1971, RCA released Connie Smith's cover of Don Gibson's "Just One Time".

In 1973, Connie Smith signed a new recording contract with Columbia Records.

Connie Smith started recording alongside producer George Richey, who recently had success writing material for George Jones and Tammy Wynette.

At Columbia, Connie Smith was pressured into recording with more pop production than before.

Connie Smith chose Ray Baker to serve as her next producer.

Baker had operated a publishing company and produced several song demos that prompted Connie Smith to choose him.

Music critics noticed a change in Connie Smith's vocals following her Columbia switch.

In 1977 Connie Smith moved to Fred Foster's Nashville label Monument Records.

Connie Smith was pressured into recording more country pop material than before and was given singing lessons by a songwriter.

Connie Smith's only commercially successful Monument single was a cover of Andy Gibb's "I Just Want to Be Your Everything".

Furthermore, Connie Smith had five children by this point and felt pressured to be at home with her family.

Ultimately, Connie Smith decided to leave her country music career entirely to focus on raising her children and tending to her religious needs.

For three years, Connie Smith remained in semi-retirement, committing only to occasional performances at the Grand Ole Opry, where she remained a member.

Connie Smith re-signed with Monument Records, but left after the label filed for bankruptcy.

One day in the mid-1990s, Connie Smith was at her home talking to one of her daughters on the phone.

Connie Smith hasn't lost a whit of her gift as a singer or as a writer.

In November 2008, Connie Smith joined the cast of Marty Stuart's television series The Marty Stuart Show, which aired on the RFD-TV network every Saturday night.

Connie Smith came to the Indian reservation in my hometown of Philadelphia, Mississippi, to work at a fair.

Connie Smith looked great then and she looks great now.

Connie Smith revealed in a New York Times interview that she had been diagnosed with COVID-19 in February 2021.

Connie Smith's sound is defined by the Nashville Sound musical style, primarily during her breakthrough years in the 1960s.

Connie Smith is considered by many critics and historians to be one of country music's more celebrated and respected artists.

Connie Smith has been given honors and achievements as part of her legacy.

Alongside Garth Brooks, Connie Smith was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2012.

Connie Smith's celebration was honored in a performance joined by Alison Krauss and Mel Tillis, among others.

In March 2021, Connie Smith's legacy was further cemented by the Library of Congress, which added "Once a Day" to the National Recording Registry.