Gayle McCormick (November 26, 1948 – March 1, 2016) was an American singer, best known for her work with the rock band

Smith Smith may refer to: People * Metalsmith, or simply smith, a craftsman fashioning tools or works of art out of various metals * Smith (given name) * Smith (surname), a family name originating in England, Scotland and Ireland ** List of people wi ...

. She attended

Pattonville High School Pattonville High School is a public high school located in Maryland Heights, Missouri. It is the only high school in the Pattonville School District. History Pattonville High School's first graduating class was in 1937 with 2 girls graduating. I ...

Maryland Heights, Missouri Maryland Heights is a second-ring north suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 27,472 at the 2010 census. The city was incorporated in 1985. Edwin L. Dirck was appointed the city's first may ...

and sang high soprano with the Suburb Choir, a 150-voice unit that performed annually with the

St. Louis Symphony The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1880 by Joseph Otten as the St. Louis Choral Society, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) is the second-oldest professional symphony or ...

. Her recording and performing career stretched from 1965-76. McCormick started her career singing songs by

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...

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and

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer o ...

before joining Smith.

The Klassmen

In 1967, she was the lead singer in a band called Steve Cummings and The Klassmen. The band released a single in 1967 called "Without You" which had success in Missouri, and a second and final single in 1968 called "Wonderous Time".

Smith

In 1969,

was formed in Los Angeles, their first album titled ''A Group Called Smith'', featured McCormick as the primary vocalist. Smith mainly played and recorded covers of pop and soul songs and made the top five with a remake of "

Baby It's You "Baby It's You" is a song written by Burt Bacharach (music), Luther Dixon (credited as Barney Williams), and Mack David (lyrics). It was recorded by the Shirelles and the Beatles, and was a hit for both. The highest-charting version of "Baby I ...

", charting higher than the previous hit version by

The Shirelles The Shirelles were an American girl group formed in Passaic, New Jersey in 1957. They consisted of schoolmates Shirley Owens (later Shirley Alston Reeves), Doris Coley (later Doris Kenner-Jackson), Addie "Micki" Harris (later Addie Harris McFadd ...

. Smith's version was also featured in

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...

's film ''

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'', part of the ''

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'' double feature.

Solo

After the group disbanded, McCormick went on to record three solo albums. ''Gayle McCormick'' was released on ABC Dunhill in 1971. The following album, ''Flesh & Blood'' on Decca/MCA at Bolic Sound Studios in 1972 and ''One More Hour'' on Fantasy in 1974. In the fall of 1971, her performance of "It's A Cryin' Shame" charted at #44 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and became a top 10 hit on the

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

chart. In 1973 Gayle married and relocated to Hawaii. McCormick recorded the tracks "Coming in Out of the Rain" and "Simon Said" for a 1975 single on the Shady Brook label; it scraped the lower reaches of the

chart that fall. McCormick also contributed backing vocals to Jimmy Rabbitt and Renegade's

Waylon Jennings Waylon Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He pioneered the Outlaw Movement in country music. Jennings started playing guitar at the age of eight and performed at age f ...

-produced 1976 self-titled Capitol LP, from which the single "Ladies Love Outlaws" was drawn.

Death

In 2015, McCormick was hospitalized for pneumonia, and during the treatment, it was discovered that she had cancer that had metastasized from a tumor in a lung to the rest of her body. McCormick died of cancer March 1, 2016 in suburban St. Louis. She was 67 years old.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCormick, Gayle 1948 births 2016 deaths American sopranos American women rock singers Musicians from St. Louis Dunhill Records artists Deaths from lung cancer in Missouri Singers from Missouri American blues singers 21st-century American women