SAD NEWS: Beloved Star D!es Tragically In Hospital After Suffering A Heart @ttack
Arlene Smith dead: Beloved singer tragically dies in hospital after heart attack (Image: Getty)
Arlene Smith, the original member of 1950s girl group The Chantels, died on Wednesday (July 29) aged 84. Her friend Matt Beckoff told The Hollywood Reporter that Arlene died in a hospital in her hometown of New York City from natural causes. It has since been reported that the singer died of a heart attack.
Arlene was the lead singer of the doo-wop group The Chantels. The band emerged at a time when male doo-wop groups of the 1950s had dominated the charts, but the Chantels were one of the first Black girl groups to break through nationally. They were able to pave the way for acts like the Shirelles, the Ronettes and the Crystals.
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Born October 5, 1951, Arlene had received classical training and performed at Carnegie Hall aged 12 when she and Lois Harris, Sonia Goring, Jackie Landry and Renee Minus auditioned for record producer Richard Barrett, who was a member of the doo-wop group The Valentines.
(L-R) Sonia Goring, Rene Minus, Jackie Landry and Arlene Smith performed as The Chantels (Image: Getty)
The teenagers had been singing together for years in the choir in their hometown of the Bronx.
Recorded in a makeshift church studio, “Maybe”, became a Top 20 hit for the Chantels and sold more than a million copies. It was later covered by artists ranging from Janis Joplin to the Three Degrees.
Rolling Stone ranked it No.199 on its list of 500 greatest songs ever made.
Arlene left the Chantels in 1959 after their record label collapsed. She briefly worked with record producer Phil Spector, and later toured with a new lineup of singers.
The Chantels were one of the pioneering doo-wop groups of the 1950s (Image: Getty)
Arlene took a step back from music in the 1970s and earned a master’s degree in education before spending several years teaching music in New York City schools, before she retired.
According to her manager, Paul Errante, she never married or had children.
The Chantels were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2002, cementing their legacy as pioneers in rock.
