Kate Smith Biography

Fast Facts

• Was the leader in War Bonds sales as a performer during World War II, once selling $107 million worth of bonds during an 18-hour fundraiser on CBS radio
• She and Irving Berlin waived all rights to royalties from performances of "God Bless America," and instead they continue to be sent to the Boy and Girl Scouts of America
• Although she had been performing on the radio since 1931, she became forever associated with patriotism on November 11, 1938, when she sang Irving Berlin's "God Bless America," a song he had written just for her
• Made her Broadway debut when she was only 17 years old in Eddie Dowling's "Honeymoon Lane" in 1926
• Began singing at church socials when she was 5 years old and started performing for Army troops stationed in the Washington area during World War I when she was 8
• Met Ted Collins, a Columbia Records representative, after he saw her perform in "Flying High" and advised her to become a singer instead of focusing on comedy, beginning a professional relationship that spanned 34 years
• Best known as a contralto singer whose rendition of "God Bless America" earned her the nickname Songbird of the South
• During her career she recorded nearly 3,000 songs and appeared in more than 15,000 radio broadcasts
• Her trademark song, "When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain," was the first song she ever performed on the radio, making her debut on her birthday in 1931
• Wrote two autobiographies, "Living in a Great Big Way" in 1938 and "Upon My Lips a Song" in 1960, as well as a cookbook called "Company's Coming Cookbook" in 1958