Bennie Smith, Oct. 6, 1933 – Sept. 10, 2006
By Kevin Belford
For the St. Louis American
Bennie Smith, the officially designated “Dean of the St. Louis Electric
Guitarists” and true gentleman of the St. Louis blues, died Sunday
evening, September 10, 2006 from complications following a heart attack.
He was 73 years old.
With his nothing-to-prove proficiency on the stratocaster guitar and his quiet off-stage presence, he has dominated the local music scene for over half a century. With a style that possessed elegance and effortless control, his music could run from raucous to melancholy.
Smith was the archetypal bluesman. His story seems like a story made up from thousands of blues music cliches. Born a seventh son in 1933, on
Gratiot Street in St. Louis, Smith first learned to play a ukulele until
someone gave him a Stella guitar. Getting a handful of lessons from
bluesmen on the streets and corners of the city, Smith hooked up with a
man named Ace Wallace, whose instruction had benefited other locals like
Doc Perry and Tommy Bankhead. Smith rewired a radio for his guitar amp
and through Wallace, Smith met East St. Louis trumpeter Gabriel, who now
hosts a radio blues program on KDHX FM 88.1. The two joined Roosevelt Mark’s Orchestra.
Marks got gigs that Ike Turner couldn’t handle and was the first black band to play on local television. They made several records for the St. Louis-based Bobbin label, when Ike Turner heard about Smith and approached him. Smith recorded with Clayton Love and Ike Turner, and in 1958 he backed up Turner on “Boxtop,” a song that featured the debut
of a singer called “Little Ann,” who later became Tina Turner.
With a band and a new guitarist named Chuck Berry, Smith played at the Dots Lounge on Martin Luther King Boulevard. Then Smith formed Bennie Smith and the Sportsmen and played at the Peppermint Club on Skinker, keeping it packed six nights a week. In 1963 that group recorded “Shook Up Over You” for Teek Records, a label owned by future St. Louis Alderman
Freeman Bosley Sr. Aretha Franklin called for Smith when she came to
town to play the Kiel Auditorium.
At the Club Riviera, Smith backed up B.B. King on a low-drawing night. “I was playin’ chords behind, letting him lead, then he’d throw the solo to me – and there was hardly anybody there to hear us” Smith recalled in an interview. Smith has performed and recorded with Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Little Milton, Oliver Sain, Billy Gayles, Ike and Tina Turner, Albert King, Bill Doggett, Matt “Guitar” Murphy, Charles Brown, Fontella Bass, Rufus Thomas, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Billy Davis (who went on to form the Fifth Dimension), James Crutchfield, Big Bad Smitty, and Erskine Ogelsby among others.
Over the next 40 years, Smith honed his craft in the bars and clubs of St. Louis, playing as many as three shows a night. He took a day job to make ends meet. Smith made five tours to Europe, played the London Blues Festival and the Blues Estafette.
An improperly healed broken back from the 1970’s, a case of emphysema, a diagnosis of lung cancer, no medical insurance and threats of discontinuing service from utility companies was the day-to-day reality of Smith’s life. “You know what time it is. I’m hung up,” he once said with a smile when asked about his problems. The audiences that packed the city nightspots when Smith played probably didn’t know about his real blues, they knew his guitar’s blues.
Those audiences will not soon forget his versions of “Stand By Me”, “Mystery Train,” or the classic “Okie Dokie Stomp.” A signature piece for Smith was his extended version of Ray Charles’ “Drown In My Own Tears.” Kicked off with the Star Spangled Banner and fanfares, the music would drop before Smith’s smooth growl began the slow blues: “It brings a tear, into my eye…”
Smith is survived by three daughters, Valerie London, Sonja Vauters,
and Benita Smith, and a loving family. A memorial fund, the Bennie L.
Smith Fund, has been set up with Bank Of America to assist with final
expenses. On Friday at the Ronald L Jones Funeral Parlor, 2161 East Fair Avenue, there will be a musical wake in tribute to Smith from 5-7 p.m. The funeral will be Saturday followed by burial at the Laurel Hill cemetery.
