Arlene Smith, one of the co-founders and lead vocalists of the pioneering 1950s girl group The Chantels, has died at 84. The news was confirmed by Smith’s manager and friend, Paul Errante, to the Associated Press, who said the singer, who co-wrote and sang lead on the group’s signature yearning 1957 Billboard Hot 100 No. 15 hit “Maybe,” had died of a heart attack at a New York City hospital on Wednesday (July 29).
The Chantels were formed in early 1950s by a group of school friends from St. Anthony of Padua in the Bronx and were one of the first Black girl groups to score national chart success. With a combination of flawless harmonies and emotion-packed lovesick ballads such as “The Plea” and “He’s Gone,” the group’s mix of doo wop, soul and R&B swing helped distinguish them at a time when Black female pop acts were a rarity on the charts.
Born on Oct. 5, 1941, Smith was a classically trained vocalist who got her break when as a 12-year-old she scored an audition alongside her childhood friends and future bandmates Sonia Gorin, Lois Harris, Jackie Landry and Renée Minus for record producer Richard Barrett (of the doo-wop group The Valentines) when the group’s members were all in their teens, ranging from 14 to 17.
According to the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, the women had been singing together for seven years by the time they were discovered, with one of their signature vocal exercises — singing Gregorian chants — helping them seamlessly change notes and trade vocal parts. Smith’s classical gospel background and simple, yet emotionally resonant songwriting launched them into national prominence when she wrote what would become the group’s signature song at 16, penned with a particular boyfriend in mind during one of her piano practices.
They landed a recording contract in 1957 with End Records, future home to such groups as Little Anthony and the Imperials and The Miracles, and their debut single, the barbershop quartet-meets-soul lament “He’s Gone” — co-written by Smith and Barrett — landed at No. 71 on the Billboard Hot 100. That set the table for their breakthrough with the Barrett-penned “Maybe,” the aforementioned boyfriend heartbreak ballad about trying to win back a lover who is “gone, gone, gone” that ran all the way up to No. 2 on the Billboard R&B chart and is considered one of the greatest girl group songs of all time.
“My thing was, ‘The guys are not the only ones that can do this,’” Smith told the authors of the 2023 oral history But Will You Love Me Tomorrow?
Recorded in a makeshift studio in a church, Smith’s vocals on the song sound both impassioned and exhausted by romantic woe, reportedly because Barrett had them cut the track more than 50 times to get it just right. The work paid off, as the AP reported that the song went on to sell more than one million copies and was later covered by Janis Joplin, The Three Degrees and, on their Live at Slane Castle video from 2003, the Red Hot Chili Peppers. In 2023, Rolling Stone slotted “Maybe” at No. 199 on its list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
After two other singles from the group’s 1958 debut album, We Are the Chantels, “Every Night (I Pray)” (No. 40 on the Billboard Hot 100) and the desperate “I Love You So” (No. 42) charted in 1958 the quintet were dropped by End Records in April 1959 when the label went bankrupt. While the Chantels continued on with a rotating group of vocalists, Smith departed to launch a solo career.
She went on to study at New York’s prestigious Juilliard School, briefly worked with producer Phil Spector in 1961 and recorded the single “Love, Love, Love” with him before re-forming the group as Chantels in the 1970s with new singers Barbara Murray and Pauline Moore. Smith then receded from music, got her master’s degree in education and taught music at a Bronx elementary school until her retirement in the 2000s. The Chantels were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2002 and made the final ballot for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 and 2009, but have so far not made the final cut.
(L-R) Sonia Goring, Rene Minus, Arlene Smith and Jackie Landry (seated) of the R&B vocal group “The Chantels” pose for a portrait session in 1957 in New York City, New York. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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