Howard Russell Smith (June 17, 1949 – July 12, 2019) was an American singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer of the groups The Amazing Rhythm Aces and Run C&W. As a solo artist, he released four studio albums and charted five singles on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Country Singles Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

chart between 1984 and 1989.

Early life and career

Smith was born in

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

and grew up in Lafayette, Tennessee. The Amazing Rhythm Aces were formed in 1972 with Smith as lead singer. The band recorded six studio albums for

ABC Records ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels bef ...

before disbanding in 1981. In 1982, Smith signed with

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

and released two albums for the label, ''Russell Smith'' (1982) and ''The Boy Next Door'' (1984). He later signed with

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

in 1988, where he released ''This Little Town'' in 1989. His highest-charting single, "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight," peaked at number 37 on the ''

chart in 1989. In 1993, Smith became the lead singer of bluegrass novelty group Run C&W. Smith also found success as a songwriter, penning Number One songs for

Randy Travis Randy Bruce Traywick (born May 4, 1959), known professionally as Randy Travis, is an American country and gospel music singer and songwriter, as well as a film and television actor. Active since 1979, he has recorded over 20 studio albums and ...

(" Look Heart, No Hands"), T. Graham Brown (" Don't Go to Strangers"),

Don Williams Donald Ray Williams (May 27, 1939 – September 8, 2017) was an American country music singer, songwriter, and 2010 inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Country Music Hall of Fame. He began his solo career in 1971, singing p ...

(" Heartbeat in the Darkness"), and

Ricky Van Shelton Ricky Van Shelton (born January 12, 1952) is an American retired country music singer. Active between 1986 and 2006, he charted more than 20 singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts. This figure includes 10 Number One hits: "Somebod ...

(" Keep It Between the Lines"). In addition, he wrote " Big Ole Brew" which became a No. 4 country hit for Mel McDaniel in 1982. The Amazing Rhythm Aces reunited in 1994 and continued to record and tour until Smith died on July 12, 2019, at age 70, following a cancer diagnosis.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Music videos

References

External links

* Russell Smithat

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Russell 1949 births 2019 deaths Singers from Nashville, Tennessee American country singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters Run C&W members Country musicians from Tennessee Singer-songwriters from Tennessee