Effie Smith (April 10, 1914 – February 11, 1977) was an American blues and jazz singer and comedian, best known for "Dial That Telephone", a song she first recorded in 1953 which became an R&B hit in 1965.
She was born Effie Mae Bly in McAlester, Oklahoma, and after an early marriage took the surname of her husband, Fred Smith. By 1940 she was living in Los Angeles, California, with her two children, and was working as a singer in a WPA project. She sang in a vocal group, the Three Shades of Rhythm, and with the Lionel Hampton and Benny Carter orchestras, and during World War II appeared on several Armed Forces Radio Service broadcasts including sessions with saxophonist Coleman Hawkins and 16-year-old pianist André Previn.
She married comedian, songwriter and record producer John Laurence Criner (1914–1992), and recorded several songs with Johnny Otis for the G&G and Gem labels, both parts of Criner's Royal Records group. During WWII Effie Smith had been featured on several AFRS "Jubilee" radio transcriptions and, after touring with Benny Carter's Orchestra in early 1945, her own solo recording career began with those same G&G and Gem labels, with small bands organised by Johnny Otis. Criner, too, recorded a couple of releases on his labels, one side of which Sugar Mama Blues, was a regional hit and was licensed by Miltone Records for re-release backed with Effie's Wee Baby Brother Blues.
She also recorded for Miltone Records in 1947, one of her songs being an answer record to label owner Roy Milton's own "R.M. Blues". During the 1950s, she recorded a number of tracks for Aladdin Records, including in 1953 the first version of "Dial That Telephone", a comedic monologue in which she complains to a friend about the absence of her husband. She also recorded with Ike Carpenter's orchestra.
Effie Smith went on to record for Aladdin, with Buddy Harper's band, Miltone again, with Roy Milton's group, an unissued session for Modern, and then Decca with Ike Carpenter's Orchestra. A one-off release in 1954 teamed Effie and John on Mambo Blues, while the advent of rock 'n' roll persuaded her to make several records with a vocal group called The Squires for Vita Records (Smith and Criner can effectively take the credit for discovering Don and Dewey, who sang with The Squires and were used on a couple of 45s backing Effie and John in 1956 on their own Shade and Spot labels, before Don and Dewey went to Specialty Records). Effie's son, Fred Sledge Smith, born in 1933, went on to become an important R&B/soul producer and songwriter in Los Angeles, particularly with The Olympics of Western Movies fame.a group managed by his step-father, John Criner!
She recorded several versions of "Dial That Telephone" over the years, including a 1959 version released on Criner's Spot record label. However, the song only became a chart success in 1965, when a new recording on the Duo Disc label reached No. 36 on the Billboard R&B chart. In 1968, her recording of "Harper Valley P.T.A. Gossip", a spoken elaboration of the content of Jeannie C. Riley's hit "Harper Valley PTA", reached No. 43 on the R&B chart.
In spite of her long career in the entertainment industry and her three-decade recording career, Effie Smith herself did not get the merest whiff of Billboard R&B chart action until the 1960s, when two of her own, self-produced comedy records made the charts: the two-part Dial That Telephone - a remake of her 1953 Aladdin release - was issued on another Criner/Smith label, Duo Disc (#36 in 1965) and - an answer to Jeannie C Riley's huge cross-over country hit - Harper Valley PTA Gossip was released on Eee Cee (Effie Criner?) (#43 in 1968). Smith later worked in record promotion and A&R for Stax Records. She died from cancer in Los Angeles on February 11, 1977, aged 62.
A compilation of her recordings between 1945 and 1953 was issued by the Chronological Classics label in the 1990s. One of her children, Fred Sledge Smith (1933–2005), became a prominent songwriter and record producer in the 1950s and 1960s, with artists including The Olympics, Bob & Earl, and Bill Cosby.
