Michael Ochs Archives/Getty ImagesGayle McCormick, lead singer of the Los Angeles-based psychedelic blues-rock band Smith, died of cancer on Tuesday, March 1, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. She was 67.
Smith’s 1969 cover of the 1961 Shirelles hit “Baby It’s You,” a song co-written by Burt Bacharach, peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, three spots higher than the Shirelles’ version. The band’s debut album, A Group Called Smith, made it to #17 on Billboard‘s pop albums chart. Smith released one more album, 1970’s Minus-Plus, and McCormick then went solo. The St. Louis-born singer put out a trio of albums during the first half of the 1970s, and found her biggest solo success with the 1971 single “It’s a Cryin’ Shame,” which peaked at #44 on the Billboard chart.
Smith’s rendition of “Baby It’s You” later was featured on the soundtrack of the 2007 Quentin Tarantino film Death Proof.
Veteran St. Louis radio personality Jonny King, who befriended McCormick in the mid-1960s when she performed on the local music scene, has penned a heartfelt tribute to her on his official website.
“R.I.P., sweet Gayle, you were always my friend, and I loved you,” King writes. “I will miss your fun-loving, beautiful self, those warm, personal talks we shared, and, that wonderful, throaty, laugh that brightened my day, touched my heart, and, made me smile…from the very first day we met in the Spring of 1965.”
King has a whole section of his website devoted to McCormick that includes photos, recollections and in-depth information about her career and their friendship.
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