Who Are Those Singers & Musicians! ~ Bob Smart

 

Robert Allan “Bob” Smart” was born in Los Angeles, California in 1934. His father was a former opera singer which stirred Bob’s interest in music. Bob attended UCLA where he studied music.

His singing teacher in Hollywood was Gene Byram, who taught among others to Judy Garland and his young daughter Liza Minnelli (whom he often meets before or after his classes), Rock Hudson and Hi-Lo's. Smart gets started then in the world of studio backup singers in California: "I worked a lot but I was also not in the first ranks. The principal choristers made part of a very closed circle".

He accompanies in the studio, TV shows or concerts Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Doris Day, Dinah Shore (he is part of his backing vocal group, the "Skylarks", and accompanies them in particular on the commercials Chevrolet), Jerry Lewis, Burl Ives, Betty Hutton (in Las Vegas and London), Don Williams (brother of crooner Andy Williams) but also Jayne Mansfield (six weeks at the Hotel Tropicana).

He then became a member of the Roger Wagner Chorale It is with this vocal ensemble that he left for a major tour in Europe at the age of 17 (London, Netherlands). Bob arrived in Paris in 1962, with the support of Donn Arden, choreographer of the Lido with whom he had worked at the Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles as the lead singer of his magazine. "Donn told me that he would be looking for people to sing at the Lido in October. I arrived in Paris with 1000 dollars... and the intention to stay until I ran out of money. I was hired in the group of six choristers at the Lido because I had a first tenor voice that was hard to find at that time. I had one vote out of four octaves and it was very rare.

He became a member of Les Double Six (also known as the Double Six of Paris) which was a French vocal jazz group established in 1959 by Mimi Perrin. The group established an international reputation in the early 1960s. The Double Six were nominated for Best Vocal Group Performance at the 1965 Grammy Awards for their LP The Double Six of Paris Sing Ray Charles but were beaten by The Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night".

As a soloist, he recorded a few covers in French and English (Gala des Variétés, Gala International and RCA labels) mainly with the arranger Jean Claudric.

Returning to the U.S.A. he got a job singing on Princess Italia cruise ships. He made two trips around the world and visited one hundred and six countries, while continuing to sing on the boats.

Smart was the first unmarried, single-living American to receive permission from the Mexican government to adopt an orphan from that country. The young boy was legally blind but could see well enough in one eye to be able to travel with him to eighty-six countries.

Bob retired at the age of fifty-one remarried and raised his son. Bob commented in an interview in 2015, "I had a wonderful life, and the years in Paris were fantastic, thanks to my loyal friends and especially to Jean-Claude Briodin, who gave me my career in France. I love France and the French. Long live France! And thank you for this interview, which was the most enjoyable of my life thanks to your kindness, efficiency and patience."

SMART, Bob (Robert Allan Smart) [6/27/1934, South Dakota – 6/13/2024, Long Beach, California, U.S.A.] – singer, musician (guitar, piano), actor, married to a showgirl (1968-1972) father of adopted son Antonio Miguel Smart [1976-    ], married to Julie Ann Smart [197?-    ], member of the groups  ‘Roger Wagner Chorale’, ‘Les Double Six’, ‘Les Troubadours’.

Viva Maria! – 1965 [chorus]

My Name is Pecos – 1966 [sings: “The Ballad of Pecos”]