On this day (August 5) in 1943, Sammi Smith was born in Orange County, California. She is best remembered for her connection to the outlaw country movement of the 1970s. Her breakout hit was a rendition of Kris Kristofferson’s “Help Me Make It Through the Night.” It topped the country chart and reached the top 10 on the Hot 100.
Smith started her long journey to stardom early. She dropped out of school when she was just 11 years old and began singing in clubs. She was performing at the Someplace Else Night Club in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, when Johnny Cash’s bass player, Marshall Grant, heard her for the first time.
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According to AllMusic, songwriter Gene Sullivan eventually convinced her to move to Nashville in 1967. When she got to town, Cash helped her secure a recording contract with Columbia Records. She released a handful of singles with the label, but saw little success. Her highest-charting Columbia single was “Why Do You Like Me Like You Do,” which peaked at No. 53 on the country chart.
Sammi Smith Finds Success
In 1970, Smith signed with Mega Records. Her first single for the label, “He’s Everywhere,” reached No. 25. She followed that with “Help Me Make It Through the Night.” It shot to the top of the country chart and peaked at No. 8 on the Hot 100 and No. 3 on the Adult Contemporary chart. Hers remains the most commercially successful rendition of the song.
Smith Goes “Outlaw”
The early 1970s saw the emergence of outlaw country. Spearheaded by artists like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Jerry Jeff Walker, the artists who would later be filed under the “outlaw” label went against the pop-leaning production styles of Nashville’s largest record labels. They wanted to make authentic music with maximum creative control.
In 1973, Sammi Smith left Nashville for Texas, where Jennings and Nelson were based. She became one of the few women in the outlaw scene. While she never reached the level of success that she found with “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” this was a consistent period for Smith.
She landed a top 10 hit in 1975 with “Today I Started Loving You Again.” Later that year, “Sunday School to Broadway” landed within the top 40. Before the decade ended, she landed two more top 40 hits with “I Can’t Stop Loving You” and “Days That End in Y.”
She continued to release music sporadically throughout the next two decades. Then, she largely walked away from music to run a cattle ranch in Oklahoma. She also made appearances on the Grand Ole Opry and toured overseas in her later years.
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