Podcast appearances and mentions of annette smith

Tracy Annette Smith, 51, of Highland Springs, entered eternal life on May 24, 2024, peacefully, surrounded by her family. Tracy entered this world as a light, bringing joy, and laughter into the lives of everyone around her. She grew up idyllically playing outdoors with her sister and her cousins, who were more like siblings to her. Tracy was a free spirit who often lived her life apart from conventional rules, but there was no denying the kindness and genuineness of her heart. You could always guarantee her authentic smile there to greet you and an infectious humor, whether she meant...Article LinkSupport the Show.

Ever find yourself wistfully thinking back to the music that scored your youth, or the songs that became the soundtrack to your most cherished memories? Chuck and I, Annette Smith, take you on a sentimental journey through our shared love for music, storytelling, and the art of the interview. As Chuck Shoot graces the Music Junkies podcast, we unearth the personal connections that music weaves into the fabric of our lives, from the songs that define our relationship milestones to the anthems of our adolescence. Learning to play "Fade to Black" on guitar pre-internet, and shifting from '80s glam to grunge, I reveal the layers of my music evolution. Chuck and I explore the power music holds in shaping our identities, dissect the charm of podcasting, and laugh over the unexpected turns an episode can take when the chemistry with a guest just clicks. We go beyond the mic to discuss how life experiences, like my days as a guidance counselor, have armed me with the skills to connect deeply and quickly—key ingredients for engaging conversations and meaningful narratives in podcasting.Chuck invites us to look behind the curtain of his podcasting voyage, from its modest beginnings to dreams of breaking new ground. We reminisce about simpler, pre-digital days and the unforgettable backdrop that music provided. Delving into the quirky tales of old car stereos and the magic of live music, our exchange is a reminder of the profound impact these melodies have had on us. So, buckle up for a ride that's as much about the tunes as it is about the human tales interwoven with them, in an episode that's sure to strike a chord with music aficionados and avid podcast listeners alike.Listen to the playlist on SpotifyWatch the episode on YouTubeFollow Music Junkies everywhere Make sure to HIT that LIKE BUTTON and SUBSCRIBE to our Channel to be notified of new episodes! If you love Music Junkies share it !!We always have a new episode every Monday at 1 pm Rock on! Music JunkiesSupport the Show.

Get ready to rock as I, Annette Smith, unleash the electrifying energy of London's metal masters, Prodigal, straight into your eardrums. Stan, George, Johnny, and Louis peel back the layers of their wild journey, from jamming in the schoolyard to dominating the stages they command today. Our conversation is a no-holds-barred exploration of the elements that fuse their unique sound, complete with uproarious anecdotes of onstage antics and heartfelt reflections on the tracks that paved their path to metal stardom.But wait, there's more than just music talk – we're diving headfirst into the sonic universe. Picture yourself living the life of your favorite frontman for a week, immersing yourself in the soul-stirring realms of Future Islands and System of a Down. Prodigal's story is filled with memorable first gigs, like Lewis's epic Eminem experience at Wembley, and their unforgettable performance at a tranquil festival, proving that even peaceful settings can't resist a dose of "Sugar."As our sonic journey draws to a close, Prodigal takes a moment of introspection, reflecting on their growth amidst London's vibrant indie scene and the dreams that continue to drive them forward. Stan leaves us with a powerful message about the importance of passion, and with new music on the horizon, it's clear that this band is determined to leave their mark on the metal world. Join them on their journey and witness how bands like Deftones aren't just influencers – they're the driving force behind a new generation of metal maestros.Watch the full episode on YouTubeCheck out the Playlist on SpotifyFollow us EverywhereMake sure to HIT that LIKE BUTTON and SUBSCRIBE to our Channel to be notified of new episodes!Please share our page with your friends! A new episode is out every Monday at 12 pm Rock onSupport the show 

Ever found yourself lost in the beats of your childhood, each song a thread in the tapestry of your memory? Lori Fetrick 'Ice' from American Gladiators joins me, Annette Smith, for a session that's as much a concert of nostalgia as it is a symposium on the sheer force of music in our lives. We trace Lori's journey from country classics that echoed through her youth to the rock anthems and pop ballads that became the soundtrack to her teenage rebellion. Along the way, we find ourselves reminiscing about cultural icons, the allure of the '80s nightlife, and how a tune can transport you back to the very moment you first heard it. As Lori unfolds her narrative, we meander through the provocative evolution of Madonna, strip club anecdotes that'll have you chuckling, and the transformative world of fitness where lifting weights is no longer just a man's game. Lori's candid take on the competitive spirit of the modeling and bodybuilding scenes paints a picture of the relentless drive to succeed. Yet, it's the softer moments reflecting on the art of gift-giving and the hilarity of dating misadventures that remind us of the shared quirks of our human experiences.We wrap up with a foray into the podcasting community's culture of support, a stark contrast to the dog-eat-dog world of entertainment from which Lori hails. She offers insights on staying authentic and true in a medium that celebrates unfiltered expression, a poignant endnote to a conversation that's as much about the beats we dance to as it is about the life we step through. Lori's parting wisdom? Embrace the unique melody of your own life's song, and let the rest fall away. So tune in for a heartwarming, laughter-filled journey that's as eclectic and diverse as a well-curated playlist.More about the American Gladiator-IceWatch the full episode on YouTubeCheck out the Playlist on SpotifyFollow us EverywhereMake sure to HIT that LIKE BUTTON and SUBSCRIBE to our Channel to be notified of new episodes!Please share our page with your friends! A new episode is out every Monday at 12 pm Rock onSupport the show

Ever wondered how a stroll down memory lane with 80s music could stir up more than just fond recollections? Join me, Annette Smith, as I sit down with Harvey, the charismatic voice behind "Love is Black" and "Men Are the Prize," for a vivid trek back to the era of synthesizers, leg warmers, and MTV. We tap into the pulse of a decade that revolutionized the music industry, influenced fashion, and left an indelible mark on pop culture, all while spinning tracks that will surely hit you with a wave of nostalgia.From "Moonlighting" to Madonna, Harvey unveils the tapestry of his 80s-inspired playlist, igniting conversations about the music videos that shaped our viewing habits and the TV shows that had us glued to our sets with eager anticipation each week. We wax nostalgic over the communal experiences lost to the modern binge-watching culture and the icons that graced our screens and boom boxes. As we traverse through the landscape of 80s entertainment, you'll be enamored by the tales of shoulder pads, big hair bands, and the magnetic pull of Columbia House Records deals that were too good to be true.Ending on a note that's both poignant and personal, Harvey and I reflect on the emotional gravity of songs by artists like Eric Clapton and Bonnie Raitt, offering a window into how these melodies can be both a source of solace and a soundtrack to our lives. It's a heartfelt conversation that celebrates the beloved 80s and embodies the enduring power of music to connect us across time. So, whether you're here to relive your glory days or to understand what made the 80s tick, this episode promises to be an auditory embrace from a decade that continues to resonate with us all.Watch the full episode on YouTubeCheck out the Playlist on SpotifyFollow us EverywhereMake sure to HIT that LIKE BUTTON and SUBSCRIBE to our Channel to be notified of new episodes!Please share our page with your friends! A new episode is out every Monday at 12 pm Rock onSupport the show

Get ready to be taken on a rollercoaster ride of emotions and nostalgia as we explore the mesmerizing world of music and wrestling. I'm your host, Annette Smith, and joining me in this insightful journey is our music-obsessed guest, CJ Plain. He opens up about his home studio, the sentimental significance behind its name, and his intriguing book project that beautifully interweaves his love for horror, metal music, and truck stops.We walk down memory lane as we recall our favorite wrestlers and express our thoughts on the evolution of wrestling over the years. He shared his experiences of living in different parts of the world and the significant role it played in shaping my musical preferences. Moreover, We talk about his complex relationship with his father and how music became a medium of bonding for us. Towards the end, CJ Plain shares his transition story from internet radio to podcasting, and his surprising success with music reactions on YouTube. We delve into our personal experiences of being interviewed on podcasts and discuss the relevance of Queen's "Don't Try Suicide" in today's world. Join us as we explore our shared passion for music, discussing our personal experiences, and the transformative power of music.Watch the full episode on YouTubeCheck out the Playlist on SpotifyFollow us EverywhereMake sure to HIT that LIKE BUTTON and SUBSCRIBE to our Channel to be notified of new episodes!Please share our page with your friends! A new episode is out every Monday at 12 pm Rock onSupport the show

"I also think that if you're positive, more people are likely to help you when you need help. Because they think, Oh, I'm having somebody who's benefiting from this, you know? Oh, yes. They don't want to come and see an old lady. She sits in her chair and wounds all the time." Annette Smith nee Julien was born in Dec 1927 on the small Caribbean Island of Grenada into a privileged family. She was educated in Trinidad and returned to Grenada where she completed a year of Nursing before embarking on her journey to England aged just 18. She travelled completely alone and this was her first trip abroad. In 1946,post the 2nd world war, Annette became the only black nurse at the Guildford Royal Surrey Hospital. She married a Londoner and had three children before returning to her nursing profession as a community nurse. She has many interests including Poetry, singing, the Arts, Sport and continues to be a positive member of the community. In case you are wondering, Annette had Bells Palsy in her 50's which affected her face. This has not affected her attitude towards life. Bell's palsy is a condition that causes sudden weakness in the muscles on one side of the face. In most cases, the weakness is temporary and significantly improves over weeks. The weakness makes half of the face appear to droop. Smiles are one-sided, and the eye on the affected side resists closing To stay up to date, follow @SmitaTharoor on Smita Tharoor (@SmitaTharoor) / Twitter or Smita Tharoor (@smitatharoor) | Instagram and follow the podcast on your favorite streaming service.

What happens when you mix love, music, and memories? You get an incredible conversation with Annette from the Music Junkies podcast! Offering a fresh take on music appreciation, Annette invites guests to share ten songs that hold a special meaning for them—often unearthing forgotten stories and reigniting vibrant memories. Join us as we take you behind the scenes of her podcasting journey, navigating the nerve-wracking pilot episode she crafted before going live with her show. Just as every melody has a rhythm, so does every relationship. Annette and her husband, T-Bone, have been laying down their life's soundtrack for over a year and a half. Whether it's a home repair project taking on epic proportions or a surprise song performance at their wedding, their shared love for music is the harmony that binds them together. Annette also takes us through her innovative process of choosing podcast guests, most of whom are her tribe of friends, and on to the challenging task of navigating personal and vulnerable music conversations with sensitivity and respect. Now, hold onto your headphones as we amp up the volume and explore the provocative subjects of sex, music, and memories. Annette shares amusing anecdotes about the eclectic mix of music she receives and how it can evoke strong emotions. We dissect her favorite song, Burning Man, and the emotional rollercoaster it takes her on. From discussing musical preferences and overplayed songs to touching on cultural appropriation, this conversation is as diverse as a perfectly curated playlist. Gear up for some delightful earworms as Annette shares her upcoming plans for the Music Junkies podcast. Hint: It includes a solo episode featuring none other than herself!Watch the episode on YouTubeFollow Music Junkies everywhere  Make sure to HIT that LIKE BUTTON and SUBSCRIBE to our Channel to be notified of new episodes! If you love Music Junkies share it !!New EP is out every MONDAY at 12 pm Rock on! Music JunkiesSupport the show

Annette Smith steps into the studio to talk about talk about why she moved from Menlo Park, California to Longmont, Colorado. It's a fun reminder of all of the wonderful reasons we love this place. But, she also talks through some rather... disquieting similarities that are worth considering as we plan our "Best Longmont." God that sounds, like, REALLY heavy. It's not, we promise. This is SideDish! We also talk about artificial turk and the best container for your homegrown bud. That's what fair and balanced, uh, "reporting" is all about, right? Mentions: Roots Colorado Costco Fig & Ivy Happy Day Plants Longs Peak Pub West Side Tavern Full Circle Yoga Thanks to Andy Eppler and David Cutter Music for our intro and outro music!

Today on Vermont Viewpoint, Pat McDonald hosts! First up, she'll talk with Louise Calderwood who is the Director of Regulatory Affairs for the American Feed Industry Association and a Member of the VTC Transition Advisory Taskforce. They'll be discussing the changes in Agriculture and Food Systems in Vermont. Then, during the second half of the show, she'll speak with Annette Smith, the Executive Director for Vermonters for a Clean Environment. They'll be discussing a 2 year study of S.5, the Clean Heat Standard.

Who says you can't combine your love for horror movies, rock stars, Halloween candy, and music trivia into one epic conversation? Together with Annette Smith from Music Junkies, we immerse ourselves in a whirl of topics that are as diverse as they are enthralling. Unearth the backstage secrets of your beloved rock stars, take a trip down memory lane to the adrenaline-filled floor concerts, and join us in testing our musical prowess. Our chat with Annette Smith isn't just about music and fun. This episode also delves into the heart-warming backstory of how she started her podcast, Music Junkies. Sharing her inspiring journey and how she's managed to win over audiences with her unique charm, Annette's tale is a testament to chasing your dreams. Listen in as we explore the foundation of Music Junkies, and possibly get inspired to kick-start your podcast venture! No topic is off-limits in this episode. From belting out our musical crushes to revealing our first album purchases, we let you in on our personal music preferences. We also venture into the world of vegetarianism and how it impacts our lifestyles. And, because we're all about keeping things exciting, we test our knowledge with a fun 'Hot Seat' game. Join us as we name bands and albums and engage in friendly debates on our favorites. Buckle up for a rollercoaster ride of topics in this episode! Don't miss out on this engaging and insightful conversation with Annette Smith, and us, of course! SHIRT bought just for the show!  Watch the episode on YouTubeFollow Music Junkies everywhere  Make sure to HIT that LIKE BUTTON and SUBSCRIBE to our Channel to be notified of new episodes! If you love Music Junkies share it !!New EP is out every MONDAY at 12 pm Rock on! Music Junkies  Support the show

Join me, Annette Smith, as we traverse the alluring musical journey of the amazing Irish singer-songwriter Colm Gavin. Discover how Colm honed his musical skills, from plucking his guitar strings during elementary school to tickling the ivories on his beloved piano today. You'll relish tales of Colm's early performances, understand why discipline is non-negotiable for any musician, and feel the emotional connection between his life experiences and his soul-stirring songs. Ever wondered how the classics from Walt Disney's films have influenced contemporary music? Let's delve into that with Colm, while also discussing his diverse music tastes, the unique charm of 1940s music, and why vinyl records still hold a special place in his heart. Move with us through time, to Colm's high school years, his unexpected love for hairbands, and the unwavering support he received during his decision to chase his musical dreams. Hear Colm recall his days busking in Dublin, the importance of post-show fan interactions, and the real-life challenges of being a professional musician. To find out more about Colm, you can go to @colmgalvin on Instagram.  Colm Davin on Facebook!  Please follow, like, and subscribe.  Watch the full episode on YouTubeCheck out the Playlist on SpotifyFollow us EverywhereMake sure to HIT that LIKE BUTTON and SUBSCRIBE to our Channel to be notified of new episodes! Please share our page with your friends! New EP is out every MONDAY at 12 pm Rock on! Music JunkiesSupport the show

Michael interviews Annette Smith from the Music Junkies Podcast.  They discuss her podcast, what music has meant for her and her guests, the fun and outrageous questions she will ask her guests, marriage, and a lot more.  Enjoy! Website: https://linktr.ee/Musicjunkies --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/pedestrian-at-best/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/pedestrian-at-best/support

Have you ever found yourself secretly jamming to gangster rap or belting out a Justin Bieber hit when you thought no one was listening? My soon-to-be daughter-in-law Megan sure has, and she's not afraid to share it! On the latest episode of Music Junkies, I, Annette Smith, get a front-row seat to the soundtrack of Megan's life. We revel in the nostalgia of her favorite tunes, tease each other about our diverse musical preferences, and share hearty laughs over a glass of homemade wine. Our conversation is a tapestry of family memories, from sun-soaked vacations to love stories that began in unexpected places, all underscored by the songs that define these moments. Picture this: you're on a boat, the summer sun is setting, and your favorite track comes on. That's the vibe we're setting as Megan opens up about the cherished summer memories that music helped frame, from carefree boating days to concerts under the stars. But the chat isn't all sunshine and singalongs; we also get real about past misadventures, including a run-in with the law that taught us a thing or two about peer pressure and understanding parents. Through all the laughter and emotion, Megan and I delve into the importance of having someone who cares for you, whether it's in the form of a surprise love story or the close bond we share. Ending on a playful note, we dive into a game of 'Never Have I Ever,' uncovering aspirations and daring dreams, such as Megan's longing for a beach getaway and the excitement of planning her upcoming bachelorette party. We muse over the joy of odd pets, tackling questions that leave us giggling about whether we'd rather have a miniature rhino or an oversized hamster. And as the conversation winds down to the soulful strains of John Mayer and the honest rhymes of Kevin Gates, Megan leaves us with a powerful reminder: Stepping out of your comfort zone might just be the best decision you'll ever make. So grab your headphones, and join us for an episode brimming with the beats of life and the echoes of laughter.Listen to the playlist on SpotifyWatch the episode on YouTubeFollow Music Junkies everywhere  Make sure to HIT that LIKE BUTTON and SUBSCRIBE to our Channel to be notified of new episodes! If you love Music Junkies share it !!New Episode is out every MONDAY at 12 pm Rock on! Music JunkiesSupport the showSupport the show

Join Montag and Dreadbull as Canada's very own Annette Smith swings by for a fun and flirty talk about all things metal, Canadian Thanksgiving, and her amazing podcast, Music Junkies! oxox

Today we have a very special guest Annette Smith the host of the fantastic Music Junkies Podcast. A super fun show about people telling stories about some of their favorite songs! We had a technical issue but please enjoy this outrageous fun episode!Annette Smithhttps://www.instagram.com/music.junkies_/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo6enkPxjKTCZ3tKtKgEiBwHook and Bridge Podcasthttps://www.instagram.com/hook_and_bridge_podcast/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCONMXkuIfpVizopNb_CoIGgSupport the showPlease give us a quick rate and review. If you enjoyed the audio version head over to our Youtube for video content! Follow the Instagram for special content and weekly updates. Check out our website and leave us a voice message to be heard on the show or find out more about the guests!https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCONMXkuIfpVizopNb_CoIGghttps://www.instagram.com/hook_and_bridge_podcast/https://www.thehookandbridgepodcast.com/

Ever wonder about the magnetic power of music and its ability to create strong bonds within communities? Join me, Karen from New Cleveland Radio Net, as I embark on an enlightening conversation with Annette Smith, the creator of the striking podcast Music Junkies. We meander through Annette's music journey, from her venture into drumming to her husband's skillful guitar playing, and how they fuse their passion for music into a unique podcast experience. We unearth the story behind Music Junkies and even touch on an intriguing project that could have transformed lives, but was ultimately shelved. Music has the extraordinary ability to evoke powerful memories, even painful ones. Its influence bridges the gap between big-name musicians and local artists, creating a harmonious community that revels in the shared love for tunes. Annette and I dive into the role music plays in our lives - how it fuels our day, and the way it brings people together in discussion. Be prepared to revel in the fascinating contrast between the experiences of renowned and local musicians and how their distinct journeys shape the music industry. Stemming from the heart of my conversation with Annette is the profound impact of music on personal stories. For Annette, music is more than just rhythm and melody, it's an emotional language that helps her connect with her guests on an intimate level. She even concocts her own Spotify playlists using songs she's never heard before, truly a testament to her adventurous spirit. We navigate the subject of music's therapeutic potential, especially for those battling brain injury, dementia, and Alzheimer's, and how personalized music playlists can aid memory recall. Join us as we reflect on the multifaceted power of music and the rewarding journey of podcasting.Watch the episode on YouTubeFollow Music Junkies everywhere  Make sure to HIT that LIKE BUTTON and SUBSCRIBE to our Channel to be notified of new episodes! If you love Music Junkies share it !!New EP is out every MONDAY at 12 pm Rock on! Music JunkiesSupport the show

Join me, Annette Smith, as we embark on a delightful journey of reminiscing with my oldest friend, Michelle Nystrom-Durante. From our hilarious introduction involving a bizarre fish-sperm fight to the unforgettable summer days spent together at our parents' fishing resorts, we share it all. Michelle, now residing in Cleveland, Ohio, gets candid about her life's journey, our shared adoration for music, and the power of these melodies in shaping our memories. Our trip down memory lane doesn't stop there. We'll rekindle memories of our favorite songs that provided the soundtrack to our teenage years and the bands that still hold a special place in our hearts. Michelle opens up about her adventures as a mother, discussing her son's interests which range from tennis to the Boy Scouts. We'll wrap up these stories with a serious dose of nostalgia, revisiting a classic song and its goofy lyrics that still manage to draw a chuckle or two. As our conversation takes a deeper turn, we reflect on the significance of authenticity in friendship. This asset has been crucial in strengthening our bond, allowing us to explore shared experiences without fear of judgment. Inspired by our experiences, we emphasize the importance of remaining true to oneself for personal growth. So pull up a chair, and join us for an episode filled with laughter, wisdom, and a whole lot of good vibes as we celebrate the power of lifelong friendship and the magic of music Listen to the playlist on SpotifyWatch the episode on YouTubeFollow Music Junkies everywhere  Make sure to HIT that LIKE BUTTON and SUBSCRIBE to our Channel to be notified of new episodes! If you love Music Junkies share it !!New EP is out every MONDAY at 12 pm Rock on! Music JunkiesSupport the show

Bio:Making good, great, and great exceptional is what Cheddy Matthews does for individuals and organizations alike. This is not only his passion, but it is his gift, calling, and profession.As an inspired, conscious-raising, eternally optimistic and faithful lover of people and life, Cheddy believes his work at HED Space Coaching is fulfillment of his life's purpose. He is a John C. Maxwell Team Certified motivational and keynote speaker, transformational leadership coach, host of the Winning Inside Podcast, business growth strategist, serial entrepreneur, retired U.S. Marine Corps Officer, and most importantly proud father. His purpose for being on this planet, he says, is to leave the Earth better than he found it. Cheddy does this by empowering Business owners and leaders to increase revenues by taking precise actions that yield significant results.He also helps the leaders to better connect, inspire, and support their employees for sustained company satisfaction, growth and an overall improved quality of life. This in turn results in transformative leadership and significant business growth. He calls this powerful skillset his “superpower.” “Do it. Do it now. What are you waiting for?”This quote, from his beloved, late sister Annette Smith, is Cheddy's inner motto.Of Jamaican descent, Cheddy was raised in London, England, grew up in New York, traveled the world during his military career, and considers himself a New Yorker. His ethnic, cultural, and global richness contribute to his unique perspective and approach. He is a Graduate of North Carolina State University.Cheddy now resides in beautiful San Diego, California. As he would say, “Stay Amazing!” Connect with Cheddy!!!Web: www.HEDSpaceCoaching.comWeb: www.HEDSpaceBusinessGrowthSystems.comWeb: www.johnmaxwellgroup.com/cheddymatthews

Annette Smith had a vision for what she wanted her life to be. When she was studying for her associates degree that vision expanded to include law school and she envisioned herself walking across the stage at graduation. While she had a great law school experience it was not without its share of enormous personal challenges. She also experienced frustrations and setbacks as the bar exam proved to be its own hurdle. She refused to give up as the vision she had for her life would not be extinguished. She is now a successful bar exam candidate passing on her ninth attempt. She joins the podcast to share why dreams still can come true for you like it did for her. #perseverance #barexam #barexamprep #agapechristianbarprep #dreamsdocometrue #godstiming --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/whataword/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/whataword/support

 Annette Smith of Danby, Vermont has been working to stop inappropriate development and the destruction of the earth in Vermont since 1999 when she co-founded Vermonters for a Clean Environment to stop a gas power plant and pipeline project.  Working with Vermonters throughout the state, she has successfully stopped destructive wind and solar, extractive industries, and industrial facilities from further damaging Vermont.  Wind developers tried to shut her down (up?) by filing a complaint with the Vermont Attorney General’s office that led to a criminal investigation, after which she was named Vermonter of the Year by the Burlington Free Press.  A litigious solar developer is currently attempting to gain access to her emails in a Federal court case.

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Jon Francois and co-host Andrew Vandertunt bring you another crazed Anything Show! Jon wants to tickle the Pillsbury Dough Boy, we learn about "reverse porch pirates", Andrew calls out Will Ferrell's white privilege, & Jon and Andrew share their favorite songs and inner selves with Annette Smith on the Music Junkies podcast! Support comes from Carpe, Heart Soul Heat, WYLD Gallery, the Behind the Bits podcast, the Mermaid and the Lion podcast, the Art Legends In History podcast, & Foxhound LLC!

Annette Smith (née Julien) was born in December 1927 on the small Caribbean Island of Grenada into a privileged family. She was educated in Trinidad and returned to Grenada where she completed a year of nursing before embarking on a journey to England aged just 18. She travelled completely alone and this was her first trip abroad. In 1946, post-WWII, Annette became the only black nurse at the Guildford Royal Surrey Hospital. She married a Londoner and had three children before returning to her nursing profession as a community nurse. She has many interests including poetry, singing, the arts, sport and continues to be a positive member of community. "I arrived to do my nursing training in England, and we got into Southampton. And of course, in those days, everybody came by ship. And I remember standing on the deck and looking at the luggage being handled by white porters. And I never, ever thought white porters would do that job. Because out in the West Indies and the Caribbean, black people always did that. So that was an example of unconscious bias. And I just couldn't get over it."

After years of financial planning and managing clients' portfolios, Annette Smith found herself at a crossroads when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. This is when her love for music and storytelling led her to create the Music Junkies podcast. A platform where she shares the moving and fascinating life stories of herself and her friends, while also intertwining her passion for music. She dives into how she balances her demanding career with her zeal for music and how she transitioned from being a financial planner to a podcast host. The conversation takes a turn as we delve into the world of music and how Annette uses it to breathe life into her podcast. We discuss the importance of emotion, humor, and discovery in turning a podcast into an unforgettable experience for listeners. Annette lays bare the surprising revelations she has had about her guests based on their choice of music and how those choices often reflect the guest's true selves. We further explore the magic of music and how personal playlists have the power to evoke stories and memories. Annette shares the strategies she uses to support stories with music and how to create the perfect playlist for any situation. We discuss the importance of understanding the origin of music and its impact on the listener. The episode concludes with tips to ensure your podcast is easily discoverable in a Google search. So prepare to be enthralled by Annette's journey and insights into the world of music and podcasting.Listen to the playlist on Watch the episode on YouTubeFollow Music Junkies everywhere  Make sure to HIT that LIKE BUTTON and SUBSCRIBE to our Channel to be notified of new episodes! If you love Music Junkies share it !!New EP is out every MONDAY at 12 pm Rock on! Music JunkiesSupport the show

Annette Smith, a former “Vermonter of the Year” and a self-described “unintentional activist”, discusses strategies to achieve better energy resilience in Vermont. Podcast produced by Mark Moffett. Seven (mkmA7) by Mark Moffett (c) copyright 2016.

This was a fun Podcast getting to know Annette Smith and why she started her podcast Music Junkies.  LaurieAnn was a guest and also had the opportunity to listen to many of Annette's Podcasts, and they are so entertaining because she asks very interesting questions.  And Annette did say she can make Roy's dream come true to be a guest on a podcast.  Hers. Annette has her own business in the Financial Industry, and her desire was to have a Podcast that was upbeat.  At the onset, when she was searching for people who loved music and asked them to share, she said their stories were quite intense, and already dealing with clients during the day who struggled, she knew this was not the direction she was looking for.So Music Junkies brings many different people with different backgrounds on her show where she says she takes time to pick from the playlist they provide to her, knowing the direction she wants to take her guest.  And Annette is good at that.You feel so comfortable with her you might end up saying something you never knew you wanted to share before.  LOL.A must listen to for great fun and entertainment, and connecting to the guests whose songs, quite often, will also take you back to that one experience that is connected to music.Annette's Podcast can be found by searching Music Junkies Podcast or Music Junkies with Annette Smith.  The direct link on Buzzsprout  is https://musicjunkies.buzzsprout.comMore about Annette:I have been a financial planner for 15 years and own my own business during Covid I started a Music podcast. This podcast is all about stories from amazing people and extraordinary ways music has influenced their lives. With provocative conversations, filthy humor, and outrageous questions.  I am a mother of two beautiful children, 26 and 24, wife of 21 years and we have a dog LOL who is our new child.(What a fantastic and simple bio!

This week, Matt chats with Annette Smith, RDH, MSDH, about her experience as an educator and member of the ADHA Task Force on Return to Work. They also discuss Annette's quest to advocate for dental hygienists' ability to administer local anesthetic and her upcoming role as the Texas Dental Hygienists' Association (TDHA) President. Be sure to listen and get inspired by her passion for our profession. Quotes   “In hindsight I really regret not being involved in the ADHA earlier in my career.”    “I realized how much more of it is political rather than about having a good argument.”    “We tried to keep it very science based so it was a solid document.”    “Texas is the largest state constituent that ADHA has.”  Links    https://www.adha.org/awards-program   The health and wellness of the dental hygiene community and the patients you serve is our top priority. We are closely monitoring developments surrounding COVID-19 and will continue to keep you informed. For more information from ADHA, visit https://www.adha.org/covid19.   COVID QUESTION EMAIL: rdhcovidinfo@ahda.net   www.ADHA2021.org    Matt's Email: MattC@ADHA.net  ADHA Annual Report: https://www.adha.org/annual-reports    Visit www.adha.org for membership processing, membership updates, renewals and conference registration! FAQ: https://www.adha2020.org/faq/    American Dental Hygienists' Association homepage:   https://www.adha.org/ ADHA Facebook Page:   https://www.facebook.com/youradha/ The Dental Podcast Network Channel One homepage: http://dentalpodcastnetworkchannelone.otcpn.libsynpro.com/ 

Annette Smith is back on the show! She was here in the beginning stages of this podcast sharing about the Grand Mal Seizure she experienced and how it impacted the trajectory of her current life (Episode 25), but today we are talking all things Crying, and normalizing our innate cellular reaction to release or emote what our bodies want us to express. Sue and Annette could chat for hours, so without further adieu, here is their rant about the importance of crying.   Connect with Annette:Website: https://www.lipservicebeauty.caFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/LipServiceEtsyBeauty Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lipservice_beauty/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lipservicebeauty Email: annette@lipservicebeauty.ca

Today we are speaking with Annette Smith.  Annette is the CEO and Founder of Lip Service Beauty.  A few years back Annette endured a grand mal seizure which began a journey of prioritizing her health. After several dramatic life changes, Annette found herself back in a place where her health declined and learned a valuable lesson around getting ahead of your health versus waiting until something happens to address the issue. Annette owns her own plant based beauty company, is a wellness advocate and is a proud member of the 5am club, prioritizing her own self care on a daily basis. By building this practice, Annette has learned to gain control of her health, function more optimally and be a better human.    In this episode, we discuss: 1) Self care is giving the world the best of you; not what's left of you. As mom's, entrepreneurs, business women, we tend to give ourselves what is left over and that means next to nothing. Annette was a workaholic and her grand mal seizure completely caught her by surprise.    2) It is impossible to give to others without giving to yourself first. If you haven't had boundaries in place before, then this is an important place to start, and a place where you will experience resistance from others because your lack of boundaries has served them. 3) Annette's story prompted her to create her own plant based beauty product company as she was searching for products that were safe to use.  Over this past year especially during the pandemic, Annette re-learned that working through challenges, prioritizing self care, and asking for support has helped her continue to grow her business this past year.   Connect with Annette:Website: https://www.lipservicebeauty.caFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/LipServiceEtsyBeauty Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lipservice_beauty/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lipservicebeauty Email: annette@lipservicebeauty.ca Follow us on Instagram:https://instagram.com/everybodyholdsastory Tune into Sue's podcast, Love Your Cells: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/love-your-cells-podcast/id1478170164 Tune into Marsha's podcast, Own Your Choices Own Your Life:https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/own-your-choices-own-your-life/id1445904739

In episode 10 host Gil Welsh reminds us of some of the previous makers we've spoken to who found their niche in the crafting world.The makers in this episode include Neil McKinlay, Kate Colin, Annette Smith, Liana Mullen, Malcolm Appleby, Astrid Andreassen and Guy Grieve.

If you have been following Trese, she also does a segment on her IGTV channel entitled "Trese Speaks". Part 1 of this conversation kicked off there on Wednesday, September 2nd but that conversation was so good that we carried Part 2 over to this week's episode and the season finale of Unapologetically Living with Trese. How befitting is that?!?  Always open to keeping the conversation going, Trese sat down with her good girlfriend and life coach, Annette Smith, to discuss the intricacies of Sisterhood including the whole Single vs Married debacle, cultivating new friendships and how to peacefully exit ones that have served their time.  Guess what though... there was so much more to discuss that Part 3 will air LIVE on "Trese Speaks" on IG; Wednesday, September 9th at 8pm est/7pm cst. Be sure to follow Annette on IG @lifewithannette_ for all the latest that she has coming and be sure to reach out to her if you feel like you may need an ear during this time of continued social distancing and uncertain times! Catch up on all the episodes from season while Trese is on a brief hiatus and stay safe! Thank you for an amazing Season 1! Love & Light! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/unapologeticallyliving/support

In this week’s episode, we interview Annette Smith, the founder of a plant-based cosmetics company, Lipservice Beauty. After 20+ years in corporate retail leadership, Annette faced a traumatic experience that completely transformed her life. Annette became a business owner and wellness advocate, allowing her to share her entrepreneurship journey and discuss the importance of self-care. If you want to get more information about WIB or you want to keep the conversation going, follow us on our social platforms. Instagram: brockuwib, Facebook: brockuwib, LinkedIn: Brock Women in Business. You can also follow Annette on Instagram @gloss_boss_annette @lipservice_beauty

Sometimes certain things happen within our bodies that we don't have control over. Annette opens up about the Grand Mal Seizure she endured during a very hectic time in her life and in her career. This Wake Up Call from the Universe was the catalyst for change she needed to take better care of her cells. Annette is a former corporate hustler turned entrepreneur. After a major health scare, she began over-hauling her life and came to realize that ingredients of your life matter. The food you eat, the people you choose to be around, the job you choose to spend your time doing all ultimately play in a part in your happiness. Annette is a passionate wellness advocate and when not working can be found on her yoga mat, SUP board or meal prepping healthy meals. She loves taking long walks or hikes with her border collie Oreo. Annette has an educational background in visual merchandising/marketing, culinary and is a certified aromatherapist. She has been able to use all of these skills to build her own plant based beauty brand: Lip Service Beauty. Lip Service Beauty believes wholeheartedly that ingredients matter and source as locally and ethically as possible. Their plant based cosmetics are hand made in small batches. SHOP: https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/LipServiceBeauty Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lipservice_beauty/ https://www.instagram.com/gloss_boss_annette/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LipServiceEtsyBeauty/  

Annette Smith is the Founder of Lip Service Beauty, an all-natural, plant-based beauty company based out of Grimsby, Ontario but with a presence across the GTA. After suffering a grand-mal seizure 5 years ago, Annette decided to detoxify her life, and started making her own beauty products. Annette wholeheartedly believes that INGREDIENTS MATTER in all aspects of life and business!

  Episode sixty-five of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Maybe” by the Chantels, and covers child stardom, hymns in Latin, and how to get discovered twice in one day. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on “Don’t You Just Know It” by Huey “Piano” Smith and the Clowns.  —-more—- Resources As always, I’ve created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode. The only book actually about the Chantels is barely a book — Maybe, Renee Minus White’s self-published memoir, is more of a pamphlet, and it only manages even to get to that length with a ton of padding — things like her fruit cake recipe. Don’t expect much insight from this one. A big chunk of the outline of the story comes from Girl Groups; Fabulous Females Who Rocked the World by John Clemente, which has  a chapter on the Chantels.  This article on Richie Barrett’s career filled in much of the detail.  My opinions of George Goldner come mostly from reading two books — Hound Dog: The Leiber and Stoller Autobiography by Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, and David Ritz, which talks about Leiber and Stoller’s attempts to go into business with Goldner, and Godfather of the Music Business: Morris Levy by Richard Carlin. There are innumerable collections of the small number of recordings the Chantels released — this one is as good as any. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? ERRATUM: I refer to “Summer Love” rather than “Summer’s Love”   Transcript We’ve already seen one girl group, when we looked at “Mr Lee” by the Bobbettes, but already within a few months of the Bobbettes’ breakout hit, other groups were making waves with the public. The Chantels were one such group, and one of the best. They were pretty much exact contemporaries of the Bobbettes – so much so that when the Bobbettes were forming, they decided against calling themselves the Chanels, because it would be too similar. The Chantels, too, changed their name early on. They were formed by a group of girls at a Catholic school – St Anthony of Padua school in the Bronx – and were originally named “the Crystals”, but they found that another group in the area had already named themselves that, and so they changed it. (This other group was not the same one as the famous Crystals, who didn’t form until 1961). They decided to name themselves after St Francis de Chantal after their school won a basketball game against St. Francis de Chantal school – when they discovered that the Chantal in the saint’s name was from the same root as the French word for singing, it seemed to be too perfect for them. Originally there were around a dozen members of the group, but they slowly whittled themselves down to five girls, between the ages of fourteen and seventeen – Arlene Smith, Lois Harris, Sonia Goring, Jackie Landry, and Renee Minus. According to Renee (who now goes by her married name Renee Minus White) the group’s name came from a brainstorming session between her, Lois, Jackie, and Sonia, with Arlene agreeing to it later – this may, though, have more to do with ongoing disputes between Arlene and the other group members than with what actually happened. They were drawn together by their mutual love of R&B vocal groups – a particular favourite record of theirs was “In Paradise” by the Cookies, a New York-based girl group who had started recording a few years earlier, and whose records were produced by Jesse Stone, but who wouldn’t have any major chart successes for several years yet: [Excerpt: The Cookies, “In Paradise”] So they were R&B singers, but the fact that these were Catholic schoolgirls, specifically, points to something about the way their music developed, and about early rock and roll more generally. We’ve talked about the influence of religious music on rock and roll before, but the type of religious music that had influenced it up until this point had generally come from two sources – either the black gospel music that was created by and for worshippers in African-American Pentecostal denominations, or the euphemistically-named “Southern Gospel” that is usually made by white Pentecostals, and by Southern Baptists. These denominations, in 2020, have a certain amount of institutional power – especially the Southern Baptists, who are now one of the most important power blocs within the Republican Party. But in the 1950s, those were the churches of the poorest, most despised, people. By geography, class, and race, the people who attended those churches were overwhelmingly those who would be looked down on by the people who had actual power in the USA. The churches that people with power overwhelmingly went to at the time were those which had been established in Western Europe – the so-called mainline Protestant churches – and, to a lesser extent, the Catholic Church. The music of those churches had very little influence on rock and roll. It makes sense that this would be the case – obviously underprivileged people’s music would be influenced by the churches that underprivileged people went to, rather than the ones that privileged people attended, and rock and roll was, at this point, still a music made almost solely by people who were underprivileged on one or more axis – but it’s still worth pointing out, because for the first time we’re going to look at a group who – while they were also underprivileged, being black – were influenced by Catholic liturgical music, rather than gospel or spiritual music. Because there’s always been a geographical variation, as well as one based on class and race, in what religions dominate in the US. While evangelical churches predominate in the southern states, in the North-East there were, especially at the time we’re talking about, far more mainline Protestants, Catholics, and Jewish people. The Chantels were a New York group, and it’s notable that New York groups were far more likely to have been influenced by Catholic or Episcopalian liturgical music, and choral music in general, than vocal groups from other areas. This may go some way towards explaining Johnny Otis’ observation that all the LA vocal groups he knew had pitching problems, while the New York groups could sing in tune – choir practice may have made the New York groups more technically adept (though to my own ears, the New York groups tend to make much less interesting music than the LA groups). Certainly when it comes to the Chantels, the girls had all sung in the choir, and had been taught to read music and play the piano, although a couple of them had eventually been kicked out of the choir for singing “that skip and jump music”, as the nuns referred to rock and roll. Indeed, at their very first appearance at the Apollo, after getting a record contract, one of the two songs they performed was a Catholic hymn, in Latin – “Terra Tremuit”. That piece remains in the group’s repertoire to this day, and while they’ve never formally recorded it, there are videos on YouTube of them performing it: [Excerpt: The Chantels, “Terra Tremuit”, soundcheck recording] The story of how the Chantels were discovered, as it’s usually told, is one that leaves one asking more questions than it answers. The group were walking down the street, when they passed a rehearsal room. A young man spotted them on the street and asked them if they were singers, since they were dressed identically. When they said “yes”, he took them up to a rehearsal studio to hear them. The rehearsal studio happened to be in the Brill Building. We’ve not mentioned the Brill Building so far, because we’re only just getting to the point where it started to have an impact on rock and roll music, but it was a building on Broadway – 1619 Broadway to be exact – which was the home of dozens, even hundreds at times, of music publishers, record labels, and talent agencies. There were a few other nearby buildings, most notably 1650 Broadway, which became the home of Aldon Music, which often get lumped in with the Brill Building when most people talk about it, and when I refer to the Brill Building in future episodes I’ll be referring to the whole ecosystem of music industries that sprang up on Broadway in the fifties and early sixties. But in this case, they were invited into the main Brill Building itself. They weren’t just being invited into some random room, but into the heart of the music industry on the East Coast of America. This was the kind of thing that normally only happens in films – and relatively unrealistic films at that. So far, so cliched, though it’s hard to believe that that kind of thing ever really happened. But then something happened that isn’t in any of the cliches – the girls noticed, through the window, that three members of the Valentines, one of their favourite groups, were walking past. We’ve mentioned the Valentines a few months ago, when talking about Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, and we talked about how Richie Barrett, as well as being a singer and songwriter in the group, was also a talent scout for George Goldner’s record labels. The Valentines had released several records, but none of them had had anything but local success, though records like “The Woo Woo Train” have since become cult favourites among lovers of 1950s vocal group music: [Excerpt: The Valentines, “The Woo Woo Train”] The girls loved the Valentines, and they also knew that Barrett was important in the industry. They decided to run out of the rehearsal room and accost the group members. They told Richie Barrett that they were a singing group, and when he didn’t believe them, they burst into song, singing what would later become the B-side of their first record, “The Plea”: [Excerpt: The Chantels, “The Plea”] That song was one they’d written themselves, sort of. It was actually based on a song that a group of boys they knew, who sang in a street-corner group, had made up. That song had been called “Baby”, but the Chantels had taken it and reworked it into their own song. The version that they finally recorded, which we just heard, was further revamped by Barrett. Barrett was impressed, and said he’d be in touch. But then he never bothered to get in contact with them again, until Jackie Landry managed to obtain his home address and get in touch with him. She got the address through a friend of hers, a member of the Teenchords, a vocal group fronted by Frankie Lymon’s brother Lewis, who recorded for one of George Goldner’s labels, releasing tracks like “Your Last Chance”: [Excerpt: Lewis Lymon and the Teenchords, “Your Last Chance”] They tracked down Barrett, and he agreed to try to get them signed to a record deal. That story has many, many, problems, and frankly doesn’t make any kind of sense, but it’s the accepted history you’ll find in books that deal with the group. According to Renee Minus White’s autobiography, though, each of the girls has a different recollection of how they first met Barrett – in her version, they simply waited at the stage door to get autographs, and told him they were a singing group. My guess is that the accepted story is an attempt to reconcile a bunch of irreconcilable versions of the story. Whatever the true facts as to how they started to work with Richie Barrett, the important thing is that they did end up working with him. Barrett was impressed by their ability not just to sing the “oohs” and “aahs”, but the complex polyphonic parts that they sang in choir. For the most part, doo-wop groups either sang simple block chords behind a lead singer, or they all sang their own moving parts that worked more or less in isolation – the bass singer would sing his part, the falsetto singer his, and so on. I say “his” because pretty much all doo-wop groups at this point were male. They were all singing the same song, but doing their own thing. The Chantels were different – they were singing block harmonies, but they weren’t singing simple chords, but interlocking moving lines. What they were doing ended up being closer to the so-called “modern harmony” of jazz vocal groups like the Four Freshmen: [Excerpt: The Four Freshmen, “It’s a Blue World”] But where other groups singing in that style had no R&B background, the Chantels were able to sing a rhythm and blues song with the best of them. Barrett signed the group to End Records, one of George Goldner’s stable of record labels. But before recording them, he spent weeks rehearsing them, and teaching them how to perform on stage. The first record they made, when they finally went into the studio, was a song primarily written by Arlene Smith, who also sang lead, though the composition is credited to the girls as a group. And listening to it, you have in this record for the first time the crystallisation of the girl-group sound, the sound that would later become a hallmark of people like Phil Spector. [Excerpt: The Chantels, “He’s Gone”] It’s a song about adolescent anguish, written by and for adolescents, and it has a drama and angst to it that none of the other records by girl groups had had before – it’s obviously inspired by groups like the Penguins and the Platters, but there’s a near-hysteria to the performance that hadn’t really been heard before. That strained longing is something that would appear in almost every girl-group record of the early sixties, and you can hear very clear echoes of the Chantels in records by people like the Ronettes, the Crystals, and the Shangri-Las. It’s a far cry from “Mr. Lee”. Most of the time, when people talk about the Chantels’ vocals, they – rightly – draw attention to Arlene Smith’s leads, which are astonishing. But listen to the a capella intro, which is repeated as the outro, and you can hear those choir-trained voices – this was a vocal group, not just a singer and some cooing background vocalists: [Excerpt: the Chantels, “He’s Gone”] As well as being pioneers in the girl-group sound, the Chantels were also one of the first self-contained vocal groups to play their own instruments on stage. This was not something that they did at first, but something that Barrett encouraged them to do. Some of them had instrumental training already, and those who didn’t were taught how to play by Barrett. Sonia and Jackie played guitar, Arlene bass, Lois piano, and Renee the drums. They even, according to Renee’s autobiography, recorded an instrumental by themselves, called “The Chantels’ Rock”. Almost immediately, the girls were pulled out of Catholic school and instead sent to Quintano’s School for Young Professionals, the same school that the Teenagers went to, which was set up to accommodate children who had to go on tour. But there was one exception. Lois’ mother would not let her transfer schools, or go on tour with the group. She could sing with them in the studio, and when they were performing in New York, but until she graduated high school that was all. In many ways her mother was right to be worried, or at least Richie Barrett believed she had good reason to be. They started touring as soon as “He’s Gone” came out, but the girls, at the time, resented Barrett, who came along on tour with them, because he would lock them in the dressing rooms and only let them out for the show itself, not allowing them to socialise with the other acts. In retrospect, given that they were girls in their teens, and they were touring with large numbers of male musicians, many of them with reputations as sexual predators, Barrett’s protectiveness (and his apparent threats to several of these men) was probably justified. For example, in early 1958, the girls were sent out on a tour that became legendary – and given its lineup it’s easy to see why. As well as the Chantels, the tour had Frankie Lymon, Danny & the Juniors, the Diamonds, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Larry Williams, Buddy Holly, and as alternating headliners Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry. We’ll talk more about that tour in the next couple of episodes, but aside from the undoubted musical quality of the performers, that was simply not a group of people who young women were going to be safe around (though several of the individuals there were harmless enough). One could, of course, argue that young girls shouldn’t be put in that situation at all, but that never seems to have occurred to anyone involved. By the time of that tour, they’d recorded what would become by far their biggest hit, their second single, “Maybe”: [Excerpt: The Chantels, “Maybe”] “Maybe” was a song that was originally co-credited to George Goldner and an unknown “Casey”, but for which Richie Barrett later sued and won co-writing credit. Barrett was presumably the sole writer, though some have claimed that Arlene Smith was an uncredited co-writer – something the other Chantels deny. It was very much in the mould of “He’s Gone”, and concentrated even more on Smith’s lead vocal, and that lead vocal took an immense amount of work to obtain. In total they recorded fifty-two takes of the song before they got one that sounded right, and Smith was crying in frustration when she recorded the last take. “Maybe” reached number fifteen on the pop charts, and number two on the R&B charts, and it became a classic that has been covered by everyone from Janis Joplin to the Three Degrees. The group’s next two records, “Every Night (I Pray)” and “I Love You So”, both charted as well, though neither of them was a massive hit in the way that “Maybe” was. But after this point, the hits dried up – something that wasn’t helped by the fact that George Goldner went through a phase of having his artists perform old standards, which didn’t really suit the Chantels’ voices. But they’d had four hit records in a row, which was enough for them to get an album released. The album, which just featured the A- and B-sides of their first six singles, was originally released with a photo of the group on the front. That version was quickly withdrawn and replaced with a stock image of two white teenagers at a jukebox, just in case you’ve forgotten how appallingly racist the music industry was at this point. They continued releasing singles, but they were also increasingly being used as backing vocalists for other artists produced by Barrett. He had them backing Jimmy Pemberton on “Rags to Riches”: [Excerpt: Jimmy Pemberton, “Rags to Riches”] And they also backed Barrett himself on “Summer Love”, which got to the lower reaches of the top one hundred in pop, and made the top thirty in the R&B charts: [Excerpt: Richie Barrett and the Chantels, “Summer Love”] There had also been some attempts to give Arlene a separate career outside the Chantels, as she duetted with Willie Wilson on “I’ve Lied”: [Excerpt: Willie Wilson and the Tunemasters, “I’ve Lied”] Unfortunately, after a year of success followed by another year of comparative failure, the group discovered that their career was at an end, thanks to George Goldner. We’ve talked about Goldner before, most significantly in the episode on “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?”, but he had an almost unique combination of strong points and flaws as a record executive. His strongest point was his musical taste. Nobody who knew him respected his taste, but everyone respected his ability to pick a hit, and both of these things sprang from the same basic reason – he had exactly the same musical tastes as a typical teenage girl from the period. Now, it’s an unfortunate fact that the tastes of teenage girls are looked down upon by almost anyone with any power in the music industry, because of the almost universal misogyny in the industry, but the fact remains that teenage girls were becoming a powerful demographic as customers, and anyone who could accurately predict the music that they were going to buy would have a tremendous advantage when it came to making money in the music industry. And Goldner definitely made himself enough money over the years, because he engaged in all the usual practices of ripping off his artists – who were, very often, teenagers themselves. He would credit himself as the writer of their songs, he would engage in shady accounting practices, and all the rest. But Goldner’s real problem was his gambling addiction, and so there’s a pattern that happens over and again throughout the fifties and sixties. Goldner starts up a new record label, discovers some teenage and/or black act, and makes them into overnight stars. Goldner then starts getting vast amounts of money, because he’s ripping off his new discoveries. Goldner starts gambling with that money, loses badly, gets into debt with the mob, and goes to Morris Levy for a loan in order to keep his business going. Levy and his Mafia friends end up taking over the whole company, in exchange for writing off the debts. Levy replaces Goldner’s writing credits on the hits with his own name, stops paying the artists anything at all, and collects all the money from the hits for the rest of his life, while Goldner is left with nothing and goes off to find another bunch of teenagers. And so End Records met the same fate as all of Goldner’s other labels. It went bankrupt, and closed down, owing the Chantels a great deal of money. After End records closed, the Chantels wanted to carry on – but Arlene Smith decided she wanted to go solo instead. She recorded a couple of singles with a new producer, Phil Spector: [Excerpt: Arlene Smith, “Love, Love, Love”] And she also recorded another single with Richie Barrett as producer: [Excerpt: Arlene Smith, “Everything”] At first, that looked like it would be the end of the Chantels, but then a year or so later Richie Barrett got back in touch with the girls. He had some ideas for records that would use the Chantels sound. By this point, Lois had decided that she was going to retire from the music business, but Jackie, Renee, and Sonia agreed to restart their career. There was a problem, though – they weren’t sure what to do without their lead singer. Barrett told them he would sort it out for them. Barrett had been working with another girl group, the Veneers, for a couple of years. They’d released a few singles on Goldner-owned labels, like “Believe Me (My Angel)”: [Excerpt: The Veneers, “Believe Me (My Angel)”] And they’d also been the regular backing group Barrett used for sessions for male vocalists like Titus Turner: [Excerpt: Titus Turner, “The Return of Stagolee”] But they’d never had a huge amount of success. So Barrett got their lead singer, Annette Swinson, to replace Arlene. To make it up to the Veneers, he got the rest of them a job as Jackie Wilson’s backing vocalists. He changed Annette’s name to Annette Smith, and the new lineup of the group had a few more hits, with “Look in My Eyes”, which went to number six on the R&B charts and number fourteen on the pop charts: [Excerpt: The Chantels, “Look in My Eyes”] They also backed Richie Barrett on an answer record to Ray Charles’ “Hit the Road Jack”, titled “Well I Told You”, which made the top thirty on the pop charts: [Excerpt: Richie Barrett and the Chantels, “Well I Told You”] This second phase of the Chantels’ career was successful enough that Goldner, who no longer had the girls under contract, got one of his record labels to put out a new Chantels album, featuring a few tracks he owned by them that hadn’t been on their first album. To fill out the album, and make it sound more like the current group, he also took a few of the Veneers’ singles and stuck them on it under the Chantels’ name. Annette would stay with the group for a while, but the sixties saw several lineup changes, as the group stopped having chart successes, and members temporarily dropped out to have children or pursue careers. However, Sonia and Renee remained in place throughout, as the two constant members of the group (though Sonia also moonlit for a while in the sixties with another group Richie Barrett was looking after at the time, the Three Degrees). By the mid-nineties, they had reformed with all of the original members except Arlene, who was replaced by Ami Ortiz, who can do a very creditable imitation of Arlene’s lead vocals. Sadly Jackie Landry died in 1997, but the other four continued to tour, though only intermittently in between holding down day jobs. Almost uniquely, the Chantels are still touring with the majority of their original members. Sonia Goring Wilson, Renee Minus White, and Lois Harris Powell still tour with the group, and they have several tour dates booked in for 2020, mostly on the east coast of the US. Arlene Smith spent many years touring solo and performing with her own rival “Chantels” group. She has very occasionally reunited with the rest of the Chantels for one-off performances, but there appears to be bad blood between them. She kept performing into the middle of the last decade, and as of 2018, her Facebook page said she was planning a comeback, but no further details have emerged. The Chantels never received either the money or the acclaim that they deserved, given their run of chart successes and the way that they pioneered the girl group sound. But more than sixty years on from their biggest hits, four of the five of them are still alive, and apparently healthy, happy, and performing when the opportunity arises, and three of them are still good friends. Given the careers of most other stars of the era, especially the other child stars, that’s as close to a happy ending as a group gets.

  Episode sixty-five of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Maybe” by the Chantels, and covers child stardom, hymns in Latin, and how to get discovered twice in one day. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on “Don’t You Just Know It” by Huey “Piano” Smith and the Clowns.  —-more—- Resources As always, I’ve created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode. The only book actually about the Chantels is barely a book — Maybe, Renee Minus White’s self-published memoir, is more of a pamphlet, and it only manages even to get to that length with a ton of padding — things like her fruit cake recipe. Don’t expect much insight from this one. A big chunk of the outline of the story comes from Girl Groups; Fabulous Females Who Rocked the World by John Clemente, which has  a chapter on the Chantels.  This article on Richie Barrett’s career filled in much of the detail.  My opinions of George Goldner come mostly from reading two books — Hound Dog: The Leiber and Stoller Autobiography by Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, and David Ritz, which talks about Leiber and Stoller’s attempts to go into business with Goldner, and Godfather of the Music Business: Morris Levy by Richard Carlin. There are innumerable collections of the small number of recordings the Chantels released — this one is as good as any. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? ERRATUM: I refer to “Summer Love” rather than “Summer’s Love”   Transcript We’ve already seen one girl group, when we looked at “Mr Lee” by the Bobbettes, but already within a few months of the Bobbettes’ breakout hit, other groups were making waves with the public. The Chantels were one such group, and one of the best. They were pretty much exact contemporaries of the Bobbettes – so much so that when the Bobbettes were forming, they decided against calling themselves the Chanels, because it would be too similar. The Chantels, too, changed their name early on. They were formed by a group of girls at a Catholic school – St Anthony of Padua school in the Bronx – and were originally named “the Crystals”, but they found that another group in the area had already named themselves that, and so they changed it. (This other group was not the same one as the famous Crystals, who didn’t form until 1961). They decided to name themselves after St Francis de Chantal after their school won a basketball game against St. Francis de Chantal school – when they discovered that the Chantal in the saint’s name was from the same root as the French word for singing, it seemed to be too perfect for them. Originally there were around a dozen members of the group, but they slowly whittled themselves down to five girls, between the ages of fourteen and seventeen – Arlene Smith, Lois Harris, Sonia Goring, Jackie Landry, and Renee Minus. According to Renee (who now goes by her married name Renee Minus White) the group’s name came from a brainstorming session between her, Lois, Jackie, and Sonia, with Arlene agreeing to it later – this may, though, have more to do with ongoing disputes between Arlene and the other group members than with what actually happened. They were drawn together by their mutual love of R&B vocal groups – a particular favourite record of theirs was “In Paradise” by the Cookies, a New York-based girl group who had started recording a few years earlier, and whose records were produced by Jesse Stone, but who wouldn’t have any major chart successes for several years yet: [Excerpt: The Cookies, “In Paradise”] So they were R&B singers, but the fact that these were Catholic schoolgirls, specifically, points to something about the way their music developed, and about early rock and roll more generally. We’ve talked about the influence of religious music on rock and roll before, but the type of religious music that had influenced it up until this point had generally come from two sources – either the black gospel music that was created by and for worshippers in African-American Pentecostal denominations, or the euphemistically-named “Southern Gospel” that is usually made by white Pentecostals, and by Southern Baptists. These denominations, in 2020, have a certain amount of institutional power – especially the Southern Baptists, who are now one of the most important power blocs within the Republican Party. But in the 1950s, those were the churches of the poorest, most despised, people. By geography, class, and race, the people who attended those churches were overwhelmingly those who would be looked down on by the people who had actual power in the USA. The churches that people with power overwhelmingly went to at the time were those which had been established in Western Europe – the so-called mainline Protestant churches – and, to a lesser extent, the Catholic Church. The music of those churches had very little influence on rock and roll. It makes sense that this would be the case – obviously underprivileged people’s music would be influenced by the churches that underprivileged people went to, rather than the ones that privileged people attended, and rock and roll was, at this point, still a music made almost solely by people who were underprivileged on one or more axis – but it’s still worth pointing out, because for the first time we’re going to look at a group who – while they were also underprivileged, being black – were influenced by Catholic liturgical music, rather than gospel or spiritual music. Because there’s always been a geographical variation, as well as one based on class and race, in what religions dominate in the US. While evangelical churches predominate in the southern states, in the North-East there were, especially at the time we’re talking about, far more mainline Protestants, Catholics, and Jewish people. The Chantels were a New York group, and it’s notable that New York groups were far more likely to have been influenced by Catholic or Episcopalian liturgical music, and choral music in general, than vocal groups from other areas. This may go some way towards explaining Johnny Otis’ observation that all the LA vocal groups he knew had pitching problems, while the New York groups could sing in tune – choir practice may have made the New York groups more technically adept (though to my own ears, the New York groups tend to make much less interesting music than the LA groups). Certainly when it comes to the Chantels, the girls had all sung in the choir, and had been taught to read music and play the piano, although a couple of them had eventually been kicked out of the choir for singing “that skip and jump music”, as the nuns referred to rock and roll. Indeed, at their very first appearance at the Apollo, after getting a record contract, one of the two songs they performed was a Catholic hymn, in Latin – “Terra Tremuit”. That piece remains in the group’s repertoire to this day, and while they’ve never formally recorded it, there are videos on YouTube of them performing it: [Excerpt: The Chantels, “Terra Tremuit”, soundcheck recording] The story of how the Chantels were discovered, as it’s usually told, is one that leaves one asking more questions than it answers. The group were walking down the street, when they passed a rehearsal room. A young man spotted them on the street and asked them if they were singers, since they were dressed identically. When they said “yes”, he took them up to a rehearsal studio to hear them. The rehearsal studio happened to be in the Brill Building. We’ve not mentioned the Brill Building so far, because we’re only just getting to the point where it started to have an impact on rock and roll music, but it was a building on Broadway – 1619 Broadway to be exact – which was the home of dozens, even hundreds at times, of music publishers, record labels, and talent agencies. There were a few other nearby buildings, most notably 1650 Broadway, which became the home of Aldon Music, which often get lumped in with the Brill Building when most people talk about it, and when I refer to the Brill Building in future episodes I’ll be referring to the whole ecosystem of music industries that sprang up on Broadway in the fifties and early sixties. But in this case, they were invited into the main Brill Building itself. They weren’t just being invited into some random room, but into the heart of the music industry on the East Coast of America. This was the kind of thing that normally only happens in films – and relatively unrealistic films at that. So far, so cliched, though it’s hard to believe that that kind of thing ever really happened. But then something happened that isn’t in any of the cliches – the girls noticed, through the window, that three members of the Valentines, one of their favourite groups, were walking past. We’ve mentioned the Valentines a few months ago, when talking about Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, and we talked about how Richie Barrett, as well as being a singer and songwriter in the group, was also a talent scout for George Goldner’s record labels. The Valentines had released several records, but none of them had had anything but local success, though records like “The Woo Woo Train” have since become cult favourites among lovers of 1950s vocal group music: [Excerpt: The Valentines, “The Woo Woo Train”] The girls loved the Valentines, and they also knew that Barrett was important in the industry. They decided to run out of the rehearsal room and accost the group members. They told Richie Barrett that they were a singing group, and when he didn’t believe them, they burst into song, singing what would later become the B-side of their first record, “The Plea”: [Excerpt: The Chantels, “The Plea”] That song was one they’d written themselves, sort of. It was actually based on a song that a group of boys they knew, who sang in a street-corner group, had made up. That song had been called “Baby”, but the Chantels had taken it and reworked it into their own song. The version that they finally recorded, which we just heard, was further revamped by Barrett. Barrett was impressed, and said he’d be in touch. But then he never bothered to get in contact with them again, until Jackie Landry managed to obtain his home address and get in touch with him. She got the address through a friend of hers, a member of the Teenchords, a vocal group fronted by Frankie Lymon’s brother Lewis, who recorded for one of George Goldner’s labels, releasing tracks like “Your Last Chance”: [Excerpt: Lewis Lymon and the Teenchords, “Your Last Chance”] They tracked down Barrett, and he agreed to try to get them signed to a record deal. That story has many, many, problems, and frankly doesn’t make any kind of sense, but it’s the accepted history you’ll find in books that deal with the group. According to Renee Minus White’s autobiography, though, each of the girls has a different recollection of how they first met Barrett – in her version, they simply waited at the stage door to get autographs, and told him they were a singing group. My guess is that the accepted story is an attempt to reconcile a bunch of irreconcilable versions of the story. Whatever the true facts as to how they started to work with Richie Barrett, the important thing is that they did end up working with him. Barrett was impressed by their ability not just to sing the “oohs” and “aahs”, but the complex polyphonic parts that they sang in choir. For the most part, doo-wop groups either sang simple block chords behind a lead singer, or they all sang their own moving parts that worked more or less in isolation – the bass singer would sing his part, the falsetto singer his, and so on. I say “his” because pretty much all doo-wop groups at this point were male. They were all singing the same song, but doing their own thing. The Chantels were different – they were singing block harmonies, but they weren’t singing simple chords, but interlocking moving lines. What they were doing ended up being closer to the so-called “modern harmony” of jazz vocal groups like the Four Freshmen: [Excerpt: The Four Freshmen, “It’s a Blue World”] But where other groups singing in that style had no R&B background, the Chantels were able to sing a rhythm and blues song with the best of them. Barrett signed the group to End Records, one of George Goldner’s stable of record labels. But before recording them, he spent weeks rehearsing them, and teaching them how to perform on stage. The first record they made, when they finally went into the studio, was a song primarily written by Arlene Smith, who also sang lead, though the composition is credited to the girls as a group. And listening to it, you have in this record for the first time the crystallisation of the girl-group sound, the sound that would later become a hallmark of people like Phil Spector. [Excerpt: The Chantels, “He’s Gone”] It’s a song about adolescent anguish, written by and for adolescents, and it has a drama and angst to it that none of the other records by girl groups had had before – it’s obviously inspired by groups like the Penguins and the Platters, but there’s a near-hysteria to the performance that hadn’t really been heard before. That strained longing is something that would appear in almost every girl-group record of the early sixties, and you can hear very clear echoes of the Chantels in records by people like the Ronettes, the Crystals, and the Shangri-Las. It’s a far cry from “Mr. Lee”. Most of the time, when people talk about the Chantels’ vocals, they – rightly – draw attention to Arlene Smith’s leads, which are astonishing. But listen to the a capella intro, which is repeated as the outro, and you can hear those choir-trained voices – this was a vocal group, not just a singer and some cooing background vocalists: [Excerpt: the Chantels, “He’s Gone”] As well as being pioneers in the girl-group sound, the Chantels were also one of the first self-contained vocal groups to play their own instruments on stage. This was not something that they did at first, but something that Barrett encouraged them to do. Some of them had instrumental training already, and those who didn’t were taught how to play by Barrett. Sonia and Jackie played guitar, Arlene bass, Lois piano, and Renee the drums. They even, according to Renee’s autobiography, recorded an instrumental by themselves, called “The Chantels’ Rock”. Almost immediately, the girls were pulled out of Catholic school and instead sent to Quintano’s School for Young Professionals, the same school that the Teenagers went to, which was set up to accommodate children who had to go on tour. But there was one exception. Lois’ mother would not let her transfer schools, or go on tour with the group. She could sing with them in the studio, and when they were performing in New York, but until she graduated high school that was all. In many ways her mother was right to be worried, or at least Richie Barrett believed she had good reason to be. They started touring as soon as “He’s Gone” came out, but the girls, at the time, resented Barrett, who came along on tour with them, because he would lock them in the dressing rooms and only let them out for the show itself, not allowing them to socialise with the other acts. In retrospect, given that they were girls in their teens, and they were touring with large numbers of male musicians, many of them with reputations as sexual predators, Barrett’s protectiveness (and his apparent threats to several of these men) was probably justified. For example, in early 1958, the girls were sent out on a tour that became legendary – and given its lineup it’s easy to see why. As well as the Chantels, the tour had Frankie Lymon, Danny & the Juniors, the Diamonds, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Larry Williams, Buddy Holly, and as alternating headliners Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry. We’ll talk more about that tour in the next couple of episodes, but aside from the undoubted musical quality of the performers, that was simply not a group of people who young women were going to be safe around (though several of the individuals there were harmless enough). One could, of course, argue that young girls shouldn’t be put in that situation at all, but that never seems to have occurred to anyone involved. By the time of that tour, they’d recorded what would become by far their biggest hit, their second single, “Maybe”: [Excerpt: The Chantels, “Maybe”] “Maybe” was a song that was originally co-credited to George Goldner and an unknown “Casey”, but for which Richie Barrett later sued and won co-writing credit. Barrett was presumably the sole writer, though some have claimed that Arlene Smith was an uncredited co-writer – something the other Chantels deny. It was very much in the mould of “He’s Gone”, and concentrated even more on Smith’s lead vocal, and that lead vocal took an immense amount of work to obtain. In total they recorded fifty-two takes of the song before they got one that sounded right, and Smith was crying in frustration when she recorded the last take. “Maybe” reached number fifteen on the pop charts, and number two on the R&B charts, and it became a classic that has been covered by everyone from Janis Joplin to the Three Degrees. The group’s next two records, “Every Night (I Pray)” and “I Love You So”, both charted as well, though neither of them was a massive hit in the way that “Maybe” was. But after this point, the hits dried up – something that wasn’t helped by the fact that George Goldner went through a phase of having his artists perform old standards, which didn’t really suit the Chantels’ voices. But they’d had four hit records in a row, which was enough for them to get an album released. The album, which just featured the A- and B-sides of their first six singles, was originally released with a photo of the group on the front. That version was quickly withdrawn and replaced with a stock image of two white teenagers at a jukebox, just in case you’ve forgotten how appallingly racist the music industry was at this point. They continued releasing singles, but they were also increasingly being used as backing vocalists for other artists produced by Barrett. He had them backing Jimmy Pemberton on “Rags to Riches”: [Excerpt: Jimmy Pemberton, “Rags to Riches”] And they also backed Barrett himself on “Summer Love”, which got to the lower reaches of the top one hundred in pop, and made the top thirty in the R&B charts: [Excerpt: Richie Barrett and the Chantels, “Summer Love”] There had also been some attempts to give Arlene a separate career outside the Chantels, as she duetted with Willie Wilson on “I’ve Lied”: [Excerpt: Willie Wilson and the Tunemasters, “I’ve Lied”] Unfortunately, after a year of success followed by another year of comparative failure, the group discovered that their career was at an end, thanks to George Goldner. We’ve talked about Goldner before, most significantly in the episode on “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?”, but he had an almost unique combination of strong points and flaws as a record executive. His strongest point was his musical taste. Nobody who knew him respected his taste, but everyone respected his ability to pick a hit, and both of these things sprang from the same basic reason – he had exactly the same musical tastes as a typical teenage girl from the period. Now, it’s an unfortunate fact that the tastes of teenage girls are looked down upon by almost anyone with any power in the music industry, because of the almost universal misogyny in the industry, but the fact remains that teenage girls were becoming a powerful demographic as customers, and anyone who could accurately predict the music that they were going to buy would have a tremendous advantage when it came to making money in the music industry. And Goldner definitely made himself enough money over the years, because he engaged in all the usual practices of ripping off his artists – who were, very often, teenagers themselves. He would credit himself as the writer of their songs, he would engage in shady accounting practices, and all the rest. But Goldner’s real problem was his gambling addiction, and so there’s a pattern that happens over and again throughout the fifties and sixties. Goldner starts up a new record label, discovers some teenage and/or black act, and makes them into overnight stars. Goldner then starts getting vast amounts of money, because he’s ripping off his new discoveries. Goldner starts gambling with that money, loses badly, gets into debt with the mob, and goes to Morris Levy for a loan in order to keep his business going. Levy and his Mafia friends end up taking over the whole company, in exchange for writing off the debts. Levy replaces Goldner’s writing credits on the hits with his own name, stops paying the artists anything at all, and collects all the money from the hits for the rest of his life, while Goldner is left with nothing and goes off to find another bunch of teenagers. And so End Records met the same fate as all of Goldner’s other labels. It went bankrupt, and closed down, owing the Chantels a great deal of money. After End records closed, the Chantels wanted to carry on – but Arlene Smith decided she wanted to go solo instead. She recorded a couple of singles with a new producer, Phil Spector: [Excerpt: Arlene Smith, “Love, Love, Love”] And she also recorded another single with Richie Barrett as producer: [Excerpt: Arlene Smith, “Everything”] At first, that looked like it would be the end of the Chantels, but then a year or so later Richie Barrett got back in touch with the girls. He had some ideas for records that would use the Chantels sound. By this point, Lois had decided that she was going to retire from the music business, but Jackie, Renee, and Sonia agreed to restart their career. There was a problem, though – they weren’t sure what to do without their lead singer. Barrett told them he would sort it out for them. Barrett had been working with another girl group, the Veneers, for a couple of years. They’d released a few singles on Goldner-owned labels, like “Believe Me (My Angel)”: [Excerpt: The Veneers, “Believe Me (My Angel)”] And they’d also been the regular backing group Barrett used for sessions for male vocalists like Titus Turner: [Excerpt: Titus Turner, “The Return of Stagolee”] But they’d never had a huge amount of success. So Barrett got their lead singer, Annette Swinson, to replace Arlene. To make it up to the Veneers, he got the rest of them a job as Jackie Wilson’s backing vocalists. He changed Annette’s name to Annette Smith, and the new lineup of the group had a few more hits, with “Look in My Eyes”, which went to number six on the R&B charts and number fourteen on the pop charts: [Excerpt: The Chantels, “Look in My Eyes”] They also backed Richie Barrett on an answer record to Ray Charles’ “Hit the Road Jack”, titled “Well I Told You”, which made the top thirty on the pop charts: [Excerpt: Richie Barrett and the Chantels, “Well I Told You”] This second phase of the Chantels’ career was successful enough that Goldner, who no longer had the girls under contract, got one of his record labels to put out a new Chantels album, featuring a few tracks he owned by them that hadn’t been on their first album. To fill out the album, and make it sound more like the current group, he also took a few of the Veneers’ singles and stuck them on it under the Chantels’ name. Annette would stay with the group for a while, but the sixties saw several lineup changes, as the group stopped having chart successes, and members temporarily dropped out to have children or pursue careers. However, Sonia and Renee remained in place throughout, as the two constant members of the group (though Sonia also moonlit for a while in the sixties with another group Richie Barrett was looking after at the time, the Three Degrees). By the mid-nineties, they had reformed with all of the original members except Arlene, who was replaced by Ami Ortiz, who can do a very creditable imitation of Arlene’s lead vocals. Sadly Jackie Landry died in 1997, but the other four continued to tour, though only intermittently in between holding down day jobs. Almost uniquely, the Chantels are still touring with the majority of their original members. Sonia Goring Wilson, Renee Minus White, and Lois Harris Powell still tour with the group, and they have several tour dates booked in for 2020, mostly on the east coast of the US. Arlene Smith spent many years touring solo and performing with her own rival “Chantels” group. She has very occasionally reunited with the rest of the Chantels for one-off performances, but there appears to be bad blood between them. She kept performing into the middle of the last decade, and as of 2018, her Facebook page said she was planning a comeback, but no further details have emerged. The Chantels never received either the money or the acclaim that they deserved, given their run of chart successes and the way that they pioneered the girl group sound. But more than sixty years on from their biggest hits, four of the five of them are still alive, and apparently healthy, happy, and performing when the opportunity arises, and three of them are still good friends. Given the careers of most other stars of the era, especially the other child stars, that’s as close to a happy ending as a group gets.

  Episode sixty-five of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at "Maybe" by the Chantels, and covers child stardom, hymns in Latin, and how to get discovered twice in one day. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on "Don't You Just Know It" by Huey "Piano" Smith and the Clowns.  ----more---- Resources As always, I've created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode. The only book actually about the Chantels is barely a book -- Maybe, Renee Minus White's self-published memoir, is more of a pamphlet, and it only manages even to get to that length with a ton of padding -- things like her fruit cake recipe. Don't expect much insight from this one. A big chunk of the outline of the story comes from Girl Groups; Fabulous Females Who Rocked the World by John Clemente, which has  a chapter on the Chantels.  This article on Richie Barrett's career filled in much of the detail.  My opinions of George Goldner come mostly from reading two books -- Hound Dog: The Leiber and Stoller Autobiography by Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, and David Ritz, which talks about Leiber and Stoller's attempts to go into business with Goldner, and Godfather of the Music Business: Morris Levy by Richard Carlin. There are innumerable collections of the small number of recordings the Chantels released -- this one is as good as any. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? ERRATUM: I refer to “Summer Love” rather than “Summer's Love”   Transcript We've already seen one girl group, when we looked at “Mr Lee” by the Bobbettes, but already within a few months of the Bobbettes' breakout hit, other groups were making waves with the public. The Chantels were one such group, and one of the best. They were pretty much exact contemporaries of the Bobbettes – so much so that when the Bobbettes were forming, they decided against calling themselves the Chanels, because it would be too similar. The Chantels, too, changed their name early on. They were formed by a group of girls at a Catholic school – St Anthony of Padua school in the Bronx – and were originally named “the Crystals”, but they found that another group in the area had already named themselves that, and so they changed it. (This other group was not the same one as the famous Crystals, who didn't form until 1961). They decided to name themselves after St Francis de Chantal after their school won a basketball game against St. Francis de Chantal school – when they discovered that the Chantal in the saint's name was from the same root as the French word for singing, it seemed to be too perfect for them. Originally there were around a dozen members of the group, but they slowly whittled themselves down to five girls, between the ages of fourteen and seventeen – Arlene Smith, Lois Harris, Sonia Goring, Jackie Landry, and Renee Minus. According to Renee (who now goes by her married name Renee Minus White) the group's name came from a brainstorming session between her, Lois, Jackie, and Sonia, with Arlene agreeing to it later – this may, though, have more to do with ongoing disputes between Arlene and the other group members than with what actually happened. They were drawn together by their mutual love of R&B vocal groups – a particular favourite record of theirs was “In Paradise” by the Cookies, a New York-based girl group who had started recording a few years earlier, and whose records were produced by Jesse Stone, but who wouldn't have any major chart successes for several years yet: [Excerpt: The Cookies, "In Paradise"] So they were R&B singers, but the fact that these were Catholic schoolgirls, specifically, points to something about the way their music developed, and about early rock and roll more generally. We've talked about the influence of religious music on rock and roll before, but the type of religious music that had influenced it up until this point had generally come from two sources – either the black gospel music that was created by and for worshippers in African-American Pentecostal denominations, or the euphemistically-named “Southern Gospel” that is usually made by white Pentecostals, and by Southern Baptists. These denominations, in 2020, have a certain amount of institutional power – especially the Southern Baptists, who are now one of the most important power blocs within the Republican Party. But in the 1950s, those were the churches of the poorest, most despised, people. By geography, class, and race, the people who attended those churches were overwhelmingly those who would be looked down on by the people who had actual power in the USA. The churches that people with power overwhelmingly went to at the time were those which had been established in Western Europe – the so-called mainline Protestant churches – and, to a lesser extent, the Catholic Church. The music of those churches had very little influence on rock and roll. It makes sense that this would be the case – obviously underprivileged people's music would be influenced by the churches that underprivileged people went to, rather than the ones that privileged people attended, and rock and roll was, at this point, still a music made almost solely by people who were underprivileged on one or more axis – but it's still worth pointing out, because for the first time we're going to look at a group who – while they were also underprivileged, being black – were influenced by Catholic liturgical music, rather than gospel or spiritual music. Because there's always been a geographical variation, as well as one based on class and race, in what religions dominate in the US. While evangelical churches predominate in the southern states, in the North-East there were, especially at the time we're talking about, far more mainline Protestants, Catholics, and Jewish people. The Chantels were a New York group, and it's notable that New York groups were far more likely to have been influenced by Catholic or Episcopalian liturgical music, and choral music in general, than vocal groups from other areas. This may go some way towards explaining Johnny Otis' observation that all the LA vocal groups he knew had pitching problems, while the New York groups could sing in tune – choir practice may have made the New York groups more technically adept (though to my own ears, the New York groups tend to make much less interesting music than the LA groups). Certainly when it comes to the Chantels, the girls had all sung in the choir, and had been taught to read music and play the piano, although a couple of them had eventually been kicked out of the choir for singing “that skip and jump music”, as the nuns referred to rock and roll. Indeed, at their very first appearance at the Apollo, after getting a record contract, one of the two songs they performed was a Catholic hymn, in Latin - “Terra Tremuit”. That piece remains in the group's repertoire to this day, and while they've never formally recorded it, there are videos on YouTube of them performing it: [Excerpt: The Chantels, "Terra Tremuit", soundcheck recording] The story of how the Chantels were discovered, as it's usually told, is one that leaves one asking more questions than it answers. The group were walking down the street, when they passed a rehearsal room. A young man spotted them on the street and asked them if they were singers, since they were dressed identically. When they said “yes”, he took them up to a rehearsal studio to hear them. The rehearsal studio happened to be in the Brill Building. We've not mentioned the Brill Building so far, because we're only just getting to the point where it started to have an impact on rock and roll music, but it was a building on Broadway – 1619 Broadway to be exact – which was the home of dozens, even hundreds at times, of music publishers, record labels, and talent agencies. There were a few other nearby buildings, most notably 1650 Broadway, which became the home of Aldon Music, which often get lumped in with the Brill Building when most people talk about it, and when I refer to the Brill Building in future episodes I'll be referring to the whole ecosystem of music industries that sprang up on Broadway in the fifties and early sixties. But in this case, they were invited into the main Brill Building itself. They weren't just being invited into some random room, but into the heart of the music industry on the East Coast of America. This was the kind of thing that normally only happens in films – and relatively unrealistic films at that. So far, so cliched, though it's hard to believe that that kind of thing ever really happened. But then something happened that isn't in any of the cliches – the girls noticed, through the window, that three members of the Valentines, one of their favourite groups, were walking past. We've mentioned the Valentines a few months ago, when talking about Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, and we talked about how Richie Barrett, as well as being a singer and songwriter in the group, was also a talent scout for George Goldner's record labels. The Valentines had released several records, but none of them had had anything but local success, though records like “The Woo Woo Train” have since become cult favourites among lovers of 1950s vocal group music: [Excerpt: The Valentines, "The Woo Woo Train"] The girls loved the Valentines, and they also knew that Barrett was important in the industry. They decided to run out of the rehearsal room and accost the group members. They told Richie Barrett that they were a singing group, and when he didn't believe them, they burst into song, singing what would later become the B-side of their first record, “The Plea”: [Excerpt: The Chantels, "The Plea"] That song was one they'd written themselves, sort of. It was actually based on a song that a group of boys they knew, who sang in a street-corner group, had made up. That song had been called “Baby”, but the Chantels had taken it and reworked it into their own song. The version that they finally recorded, which we just heard, was further revamped by Barrett. Barrett was impressed, and said he'd be in touch. But then he never bothered to get in contact with them again, until Jackie Landry managed to obtain his home address and get in touch with him. She got the address through a friend of hers, a member of the Teenchords, a vocal group fronted by Frankie Lymon's brother Lewis, who recorded for one of George Goldner's labels, releasing tracks like “Your Last Chance”: [Excerpt: Lewis Lymon and the Teenchords, "Your Last Chance"] They tracked down Barrett, and he agreed to try to get them signed to a record deal. That story has many, many, problems, and frankly doesn't make any kind of sense, but it's the accepted history you'll find in books that deal with the group. According to Renee Minus White's autobiography, though, each of the girls has a different recollection of how they first met Barrett – in her version, they simply waited at the stage door to get autographs, and told him they were a singing group. My guess is that the accepted story is an attempt to reconcile a bunch of irreconcilable versions of the story. Whatever the true facts as to how they started to work with Richie Barrett, the important thing is that they did end up working with him. Barrett was impressed by their ability not just to sing the “oohs” and “aahs”, but the complex polyphonic parts that they sang in choir. For the most part, doo-wop groups either sang simple block chords behind a lead singer, or they all sang their own moving parts that worked more or less in isolation – the bass singer would sing his part, the falsetto singer his, and so on. I say “his” because pretty much all doo-wop groups at this point were male. They were all singing the same song, but doing their own thing. The Chantels were different – they were singing block harmonies, but they weren't singing simple chords, but interlocking moving lines. What they were doing ended up being closer to the so-called "modern harmony" of jazz vocal groups like the Four Freshmen: [Excerpt: The Four Freshmen, "It's a Blue World"] But where other groups singing in that style had no R&B background, the Chantels were able to sing a rhythm and blues song with the best of them. Barrett signed the group to End Records, one of George Goldner's stable of record labels. But before recording them, he spent weeks rehearsing them, and teaching them how to perform on stage. The first record they made, when they finally went into the studio, was a song primarily written by Arlene Smith, who also sang lead, though the composition is credited to the girls as a group. And listening to it, you have in this record for the first time the crystallisation of the girl-group sound, the sound that would later become a hallmark of people like Phil Spector. [Excerpt: The Chantels, "He's Gone"] It's a song about adolescent anguish, written by and for adolescents, and it has a drama and angst to it that none of the other records by girl groups had had before – it's obviously inspired by groups like the Penguins and the Platters, but there's a near-hysteria to the performance that hadn't really been heard before. That strained longing is something that would appear in almost every girl-group record of the early sixties, and you can hear very clear echoes of the Chantels in records by people like the Ronettes, the Crystals, and the Shangri-Las. It's a far cry from “Mr. Lee”. Most of the time, when people talk about the Chantels' vocals, they – rightly – draw attention to Arlene Smith's leads, which are astonishing. But listen to the a capella intro, which is repeated as the outro, and you can hear those choir-trained voices – this was a vocal group, not just a singer and some cooing background vocalists: [Excerpt: the Chantels, "He's Gone"] As well as being pioneers in the girl-group sound, the Chantels were also one of the first self-contained vocal groups to play their own instruments on stage. This was not something that they did at first, but something that Barrett encouraged them to do. Some of them had instrumental training already, and those who didn't were taught how to play by Barrett. Sonia and Jackie played guitar, Arlene bass, Lois piano, and Renee the drums. They even, according to Renee's autobiography, recorded an instrumental by themselves, called “The Chantels' Rock”. Almost immediately, the girls were pulled out of Catholic school and instead sent to Quintano’s School for Young Professionals, the same school that the Teenagers went to, which was set up to accommodate children who had to go on tour. But there was one exception. Lois' mother would not let her transfer schools, or go on tour with the group. She could sing with them in the studio, and when they were performing in New York, but until she graduated high school that was all. In many ways her mother was right to be worried, or at least Richie Barrett believed she had good reason to be. They started touring as soon as “He's Gone” came out, but the girls, at the time, resented Barrett, who came along on tour with them, because he would lock them in the dressing rooms and only let them out for the show itself, not allowing them to socialise with the other acts. In retrospect, given that they were girls in their teens, and they were touring with large numbers of male musicians, many of them with reputations as sexual predators, Barrett's protectiveness (and his apparent threats to several of these men) was probably justified. For example, in early 1958, the girls were sent out on a tour that became legendary – and given its lineup it's easy to see why. As well as the Chantels, the tour had Frankie Lymon, Danny & the Juniors, the Diamonds, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Larry Williams, Buddy Holly, and as alternating headliners Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry. We'll talk more about that tour in the next couple of episodes, but aside from the undoubted musical quality of the performers, that was simply not a group of people who young women were going to be safe around (though several of the individuals there were harmless enough). One could, of course, argue that young girls shouldn't be put in that situation at all, but that never seems to have occurred to anyone involved. By the time of that tour, they'd recorded what would become by far their biggest hit, their second single, “Maybe”: [Excerpt: The Chantels, "Maybe"] “Maybe” was a song that was originally co-credited to George Goldner and an unknown “Casey”, but for which Richie Barrett later sued and won co-writing credit. Barrett was presumably the sole writer, though some have claimed that Arlene Smith was an uncredited co-writer – something the other Chantels deny. It was very much in the mould of “He's Gone”, and concentrated even more on Smith's lead vocal, and that lead vocal took an immense amount of work to obtain. In total they recorded fifty-two takes of the song before they got one that sounded right, and Smith was crying in frustration when she recorded the last take. “Maybe” reached number fifteen on the pop charts, and number two on the R&B charts, and it became a classic that has been covered by everyone from Janis Joplin to the Three Degrees. The group's next two records, “Every Night (I Pray)” and “I Love You So”, both charted as well, though neither of them was a massive hit in the way that “Maybe” was. But after this point, the hits dried up – something that wasn't helped by the fact that George Goldner went through a phase of having his artists perform old standards, which didn't really suit the Chantels' voices. But they'd had four hit records in a row, which was enough for them to get an album released. The album, which just featured the A- and B-sides of their first six singles, was originally released with a photo of the group on the front. That version was quickly withdrawn and replaced with a stock image of two white teenagers at a jukebox, just in case you've forgotten how appallingly racist the music industry was at this point. They continued releasing singles, but they were also increasingly being used as backing vocalists for other artists produced by Barrett. He had them backing Jimmy Pemberton on “Rags to Riches”: [Excerpt: Jimmy Pemberton, “Rags to Riches”] And they also backed Barrett himself on "Summer Love", which got to the lower reaches of the top one hundred in pop, and made the top thirty in the R&B charts: [Excerpt: Richie Barrett and the Chantels, “Summer Love”] There had also been some attempts to give Arlene a separate career outside the Chantels, as she duetted with Willie Wilson on “I've Lied”: [Excerpt: Willie Wilson and the Tunemasters, "I've Lied"] Unfortunately, after a year of success followed by another year of comparative failure, the group discovered that their career was at an end, thanks to George Goldner. We've talked about Goldner before, most significantly in the episode on “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?”, but he had an almost unique combination of strong points and flaws as a record executive. His strongest point was his musical taste. Nobody who knew him respected his taste, but everyone respected his ability to pick a hit, and both of these things sprang from the same basic reason – he had exactly the same musical tastes as a typical teenage girl from the period. Now, it's an unfortunate fact that the tastes of teenage girls are looked down upon by almost anyone with any power in the music industry, because of the almost universal misogyny in the industry, but the fact remains that teenage girls were becoming a powerful demographic as customers, and anyone who could accurately predict the music that they were going to buy would have a tremendous advantage when it came to making money in the music industry. And Goldner definitely made himself enough money over the years, because he engaged in all the usual practices of ripping off his artists – who were, very often, teenagers themselves. He would credit himself as the writer of their songs, he would engage in shady accounting practices, and all the rest. But Goldner's real problem was his gambling addiction, and so there's a pattern that happens over and again throughout the fifties and sixties. Goldner starts up a new record label, discovers some teenage and/or black act, and makes them into overnight stars. Goldner then starts getting vast amounts of money, because he's ripping off his new discoveries. Goldner starts gambling with that money, loses badly, gets into debt with the mob, and goes to Morris Levy for a loan in order to keep his business going. Levy and his Mafia friends end up taking over the whole company, in exchange for writing off the debts. Levy replaces Goldner's writing credits on the hits with his own name, stops paying the artists anything at all, and collects all the money from the hits for the rest of his life, while Goldner is left with nothing and goes off to find another bunch of teenagers. And so End Records met the same fate as all of Goldner's other labels. It went bankrupt, and closed down, owing the Chantels a great deal of money. After End records closed, the Chantels wanted to carry on – but Arlene Smith decided she wanted to go solo instead. She recorded a couple of singles with a new producer, Phil Spector: [Excerpt: Arlene Smith, "Love, Love, Love"] And she also recorded another single with Richie Barrett as producer: [Excerpt: Arlene Smith, "Everything"] At first, that looked like it would be the end of the Chantels, but then a year or so later Richie Barrett got back in touch with the girls. He had some ideas for records that would use the Chantels sound. By this point, Lois had decided that she was going to retire from the music business, but Jackie, Renee, and Sonia agreed to restart their career. There was a problem, though – they weren't sure what to do without their lead singer. Barrett told them he would sort it out for them. Barrett had been working with another girl group, the Veneers, for a couple of years. They'd released a few singles on Goldner-owned labels, like “Believe Me (My Angel)”: [Excerpt: The Veneers, "Believe Me (My Angel)"] And they'd also been the regular backing group Barrett used for sessions for male vocalists like Titus Turner: [Excerpt: Titus Turner, "The Return of Stagolee"] But they'd never had a huge amount of success. So Barrett got their lead singer, Annette Swinson, to replace Arlene. To make it up to the Veneers, he got the rest of them a job as Jackie Wilson's backing vocalists. He changed Annette's name to Annette Smith, and the new lineup of the group had a few more hits, with “Look in My Eyes”, which went to number six on the R&B charts and number fourteen on the pop charts: [Excerpt: The Chantels, "Look in My Eyes"] They also backed Richie Barrett on an answer record to Ray Charles' “Hit the Road Jack”, titled “Well I Told You”, which made the top thirty on the pop charts: [Excerpt: Richie Barrett and the Chantels, "Well I Told You"] This second phase of the Chantels' career was successful enough that Goldner, who no longer had the girls under contract, got one of his record labels to put out a new Chantels album, featuring a few tracks he owned by them that hadn't been on their first album. To fill out the album, and make it sound more like the current group, he also took a few of the Veneers' singles and stuck them on it under the Chantels' name. Annette would stay with the group for a while, but the sixties saw several lineup changes, as the group stopped having chart successes, and members temporarily dropped out to have children or pursue careers. However, Sonia and Renee remained in place throughout, as the two constant members of the group (though Sonia also moonlit for a while in the sixties with another group Richie Barrett was looking after at the time, the Three Degrees). By the mid-nineties, they had reformed with all of the original members except Arlene, who was replaced by Ami Ortiz, who can do a very creditable imitation of Arlene's lead vocals. Sadly Jackie Landry died in 1997, but the other four continued to tour, though only intermittently in between holding down day jobs. Almost uniquely, the Chantels are still touring with the majority of their original members. Sonia Goring Wilson, Renee Minus White, and Lois Harris Powell still tour with the group, and they have several tour dates booked in for 2020, mostly on the east coast of the US. Arlene Smith spent many years touring solo and performing with her own rival “Chantels” group. She has very occasionally reunited with the rest of the Chantels for one-off performances, but there appears to be bad blood between them. She kept performing into the middle of the last decade, and as of 2018, her Facebook page said she was planning a comeback, but no further details have emerged. The Chantels never received either the money or the acclaim that they deserved, given their run of chart successes and the way that they pioneered the girl group sound. But more than sixty years on from their biggest hits, four of the five of them are still alive, and apparently healthy, happy, and performing when the opportunity arises, and three of them are still good friends. Given the careers of most other stars of the era, especially the other child stars, that's as close to a happy ending as a group gets.