Jewel Fay "Sammi" Smith (August 5, 1943 – February 12, 2005)[3] was an American country music singer and songwriter.

[1] Sammi Smith was born in Orange County, California,[4] but spent her childhood in Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona and Colorado.

In 1967, Johnny Cash's bass player Marshall Grant discovered her singing in the Someplace Else Night Club in downtown Oklahoma City.

After Smith's hit, the song was covered by Gladys Knight & the Pips and Elvis Presley; both versions achieved more modest chart success.

Critics David Cantwell and Bill Friskics-Warren called "Help Me Make It Through the Night" "a watershed event in the history of Nashville and country music" and placed it at No.

"A crossover smash, 'Help Me Make It Through the Night' signaled country's belated arrival in the rock and soul era.

In 1973, Sammi moved to Dallas, Texas, with Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson to become a country "outlaw".

Smith continued to score Top 40 country hits like "The Rainbow in Daddy's Eyes" (1974) and "Long Black Veil" (1974).

[4] In 1976, after Mega Records closed its doors, Smith signed with Elektra Records and scored with several hits, including "Sunday School to Broadway" (1976), "Loving Arms" (1977), "I Can't Stop Loving You" (1977), and "Days That End in Y" (1977).

In 1979, Smith made a successful comeback album on Cyclone Records called Girl Hero.

[4] In the mid-1980s, she married her final husband Johnny Johnson, and they ran a Cattle Ranch in Bristow, Oklahoma.

In 1995, the compilation album The Best of Sammi Smith was released, which consisted of her big hit and many other various countrypolitan songs.

[3] Her remains were buried in Guymon, Oklahoma, which she claimed was her home town (in a Hee Haw episode that aired January 1, 1973).