The group, which comprises 16 singers, was founded at an all-Japanese Methodist church in West Los Angeles, California in 1955, while Smith was studying for his master's degree in music at the University of California, Los Angeles.
They have also performed works by William Duckworth, Arnold Schoenberg, Elliott Carter, Charles Ives, Earle Brown, Edwin London, Blas Galindo, Jorge Córdoba, Harold Blumenfeld, Irving Fine, Morton Gould, William Schuman, Louise Talma, Arthur Sullivan, and Ned Rorem, as well as early music by composers such as Giovanni Gabrieli and Heinrich Schütz.
They have also made a well received yuletide album entitled "Christmas Songs from around the World" whose arrangements have also been performed by other choruses, chorales, and choirs as well.
It has recorded over 100 albums, on the Albany, Columbia, Cp2, CRI, Crown, Koch International Classics, Lovely Music, New World, Newport Classic, Sony, Crown, Everest and Vox labels.
The Gregg Smith Singers have performed with numerous orchestras and worked with Igor Stravinsky for 12 years beginning in 1959, until the composer's death in 1971.