{"id":4576,"date":"2026-07-30T09:05:47","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T09:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=4576"},"modified":"2026-07-30T09:05:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T09:05:47","slug":"arlene-smith-lead-singer-and-co-founder-of-the-chantels-dies-at-84","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=4576","title":{"rendered":"Arlene Smith, Lead Singer and Co-Founder of The Chantels, Dies at 84"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tArlene Smith, an original member of The Chantels who wrote and sang the lead on the R&B girl group\u2019s classic 1957 hit, \u201cMaybe,\u201d has died. She was 84.<\/p>\n

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\n\tSmith died Wednesday of natural causes in a hospital in her hometown of New York City, her friend Matt Beckoff told The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\tBorn on Oct. 5, 1941, Smith had received classical training and performed at age 12 at Carnegie Hall when she and Lois Harris, Sonia Goring, Jackie Landry and Ren\u00e9e Minus auditioned for record producer Richard Barrett, a member of the doo-wop group The Valentines.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe teenagers had been singing together for years in the choir of Saint Anthony of Padua on Prospect Avenue and 166th Street in the Bronx.<\/p>\n

\n\tThey were signed in summer 1957 by End Records, and their first single, \u201cHe\u2019s Gone\u201d \u2014 written by Smith about a boyfriend while she was practicing piano \u2014 peaked at No. 71 on the Billboard Hot 100 that August.<\/p>\n

\n\tHowever, the quintet\u2019s second single, \u201cMaybe,\u201d recorded at a church in midtown Manhattan and released in December, hit it big, advancing all the way to No. 15 on the pop chart and No. 2 on the Billboard R&B chart.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe heartbreaking tune, about a woman trying to win back a lost love, made The Chantels one of the first female R&B vocal groups to enjoy nationwide success, and in 2003, Rolling Stone<\/em> placed \u201cMaybe\u201d at No. 199 on its list of the \u201c500 Greatest Songs of All Time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tThey group helped pave the way for acts like The Shirelles. \u201cThey were our inspiration,\u201d Shirelles singer Shirley Alston Reeves once said. \u201cThe harmonies were outrageous. We thought it was angelic. Of course, it made us want to harmonize the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter appearing on TV\u2019s American Bandstand<\/em>, The Chantels in 1958 released songs including \u201cEvery Night (I Pray)\u201d and \u201cI Love You So,\u201d which made it to Nos. 40 and 42 on the Hot 100, respectively, before they were dropped by End Records the next year.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter Smith embarked on a solo career, the reconstituted Chantels continued as a quartet as got back inside the Top 20 in 1961 with \u201cLook in My Eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the 1970s, Smith fronted a group called Chantels that featured Carol Douglas (who would have a disco hit with \u201cDoctor\u2019s Orders\u201d) and Louise Bethune.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen her music days were over, she taught elementary school in the Bronx until her retirement. She was not married and had no children.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Chantels were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2002 and made to the final ballot for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 and 2009 without moving forward.<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018September Afternoon\u2019 Dives Into the Mundane: \u201cIn an Age of Arbitrary Extraordinariness, Plain Banality Is Stimulating as F***\u201d (Exclusive Clip)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arlene Smith, an original member of The Chantels who wrote and sang the lead on the girl group\u2019s classic 1957 hit, \u201cMaybe,\u201d has died. She was 84.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[39],"class_list":["post-4576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting","tag-obituaries"],"yoast_head":"\nArlene Smith, Lead Singer and Co-Founder of The Chantels, Dies at 84 - US Property Moves<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=4576\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Arlene Smith, Lead Singer and Co-Founder of The Chantels, Dies at 84 - US Property Moves\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Arlene Smith, an original member of The Chantels who wrote and sang the lead on the girl group\u2019s classic 1957 hit, \u201cMaybe,\u201d has died. 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