By this time in 1970, a young lady from Orange, California, named Jewel Faye Smith had scored a hit on the country music charts and was about to do the same on the pop charts, and on a record label which never intended to have a hit record!
Jewel Faye Smith was born in August 1943 and was singing professionally by age 12.
She married three years later. She moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1967 and, through the help of Johnny Cash, was signed to Columbia Records.
While at Columbia Records, she met an aspiring songwriter named Kris Kristofferson who would later provide her ticket to the top of the music world through a song he wrote titled “Help Me Make It Through The Night.”
Somewhere along the way, Jewel Faye Smith acquired the nickname “Sammi.”
“Months later, I learned that the record company was formed as a tax write-off and never intended to have any hit records! SO I guess I messed up their plans! They released my ‘He’s Everything Album.’ And radio disc jockeys began playing ‘Help Me Make It Through The Night’ off the album. So the label re-titled the album, ‘Help Me Make It Through The Night’ and released the song as a single,” she said.
The single sold over 2 million copies and won two Grammys: Best Vocal Country Vocal Performance: Female and Best Country Song. The Country Music Association also named it their Single Of The Year in 1971.
Smith became a close friend with Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson and frequently shared the stage with them although she was never a headliner in the 1970s “outlaw movement.”
She also took time to share her Apache heritage by frequently visiting an Apache reservation in Arizona, where she made pottery and jewelry.
“Help Me Make It Through The Night” entered the country music charts on Dec. 19, 1970, made it to No. 1 and stuck there for three weeks. It was on the country charts for 20 weeks. The single also scored a No. 8 on the pop charts theweek of March 27, 1971.
Jewel Faye “Sammi”Smith died Feb. 12 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, after an extended illness.