Kate Smith

Kate Smith (Kathryn Elizabeth Smith) (May 1, 1907 – June 17, 1986) was an American singer best known for her rendition of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America". She greeted audi

Kate Smith (Kathryn Elizabeth Smith) (May 1, 1907 – June 17, 1986) was an American singer best known for her rendition of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America". She greeted audiences with Hello, everybody! and signed off with Thanks for listenin' . She was one of America's most beloved entertainers, with a radio, TV and recording career that spanned five decades.

Her musical career began in earnest when she was discovered in 1930 by Columbia Records vice president Ted Collins, who became her longtime partner and manager and who put her on the radio in 1931. She sang the controversial top twenty song of 1931, "That's Why Darkies Were Born." She starred in the 1932 movie Hello Everybody! with co-stars Randolph Scott and Sally Blane, and in 1943 she sang "God Bless America" in the wartime picture This is the Army. Irving Berlin had written the song in 1938 for her, and it is considered "the second National Anthem". Its popularity and constant airplay led Woody Guthrie to pen the original version of "This Land Is Your Land" in protest at the Berlin tune's unquestioning complacency.