Arlene Smith, a foundational voice in the early days of rock and roll and lead singer of the pioneering 1950s girl group the Chantels, died Wednesday at 84. Her manager and close friend, Paul Errante, told The Associated Press that she died of a heart attack at a New York City hospital.
Smith, as a teenager and a founder of the Chantels, co-wrote and sang lead on "Maybe," a doo-wop ballad that became a Top 20 hit in 1958, selling over 1 million copies. The song, recorded in a makeshift studio in a Manhattan church, has been covered by artists such as Janis Joplin and The Three Degrees. Rolling Stone later ranked "Maybe" No. 199 on its list of the 500 greatest songs.
Female vocal groups, especially Black female groups, were rare in the early rock 'n' roll landscape, which was dominated by male harmonies. The Chantels, along with other groups like The Bobbettes, helped pave the way for the wave of girl groups that emerged in the 1960s, including The Shirelles, The Ronettes, and The Crystals.
"My thing was, ‘The guys are not the only ones that can do this,’" Smith said in the 2023 oral history "But Will You Love Me Tomorrow?"
NPR music critic Tim Riley wrote in his 2004 book "Fever" that "The Chantels forced listeners to reconsider doo-wop as something more than a man’s domain, and the reality of a girl group holding forth on guys’ turf laid out cultural possibilities in an entirely new way." Riley added that Smith infused "Maybe" with "so much determined naiveté that she transformed all the anxiety of a doomed relationship into a fervent wish for its revival."
The Chantels achieved other hits, including "Every Night (I Pray)" and "Look In My Eyes," but none matched the success of "Maybe." Smith departed the group in 1959, around the time their record label declared bankruptcy. She briefly worked with producer Phil Spector, releasing the single "Love, Love, Love," but her recording career soon diminished.
By the 1970s, Smith was touring with a new lineup of backing singers. She later earned a master’s degree in education and taught music to elementary school students in New York City before retiring in the 2000s. Errante stated that Smith never married and had no children.
The Chantels, pioneers of their genre, sometimes faced the conventions of their era. Smith's name was initially omitted from the credits for "Maybe," a common issue of copyright theft within the music industry in the 1950s. The cover of their debut album, "We Are the Chantels," was altered from an original group photograph to depict two young white individuals beside a jukebox.
"Things were going on in the country," Smith told The New York Times in 1995. "There was a lot to transcend."
Smith, who was influenced by artists like Etta James, began singing in the early 1950s with fellow choir members Sonia Goring, Renée Minus, Jackie Landry, and Lois Harris. While in high school, the group named themselves after a nearby school and basketball rival, St. Frances de Chantal. They developed an intricate singing style, partly by practicing Gregorian chants.
"We navigated toward each other. We used to sit in choir practice and make up parts," Smith told Catholic New York in 2019. Around that time, a Bronx street sign was dedicated in their honor, reading "The Chantels — Hit Record ‘Maybe’ 1958."
The Chantels gained professional recognition in 1957 when Richard Barrett, producer and leader of the male group The Valentines, recommended them to End Records owner George Goldner. Their first single, "He’s Gone," was released that summer, followed by "Maybe."