One-Hit Wonder: O.C. Smith

A Grammy winner and a minister ... O.C. Smith.

From oldies.com, Ocie Lee Smith was born in Mansfield, La., in June 1932. He was raised in Los Angeles. It was in the late 1940s that he began singing in the jazz clubs as O.C. Smith.

After the U.S. Air Force, he signed with a record label in the mid-50s and continued with success in the clubs when he joined the Count Basie Band, replacing Joe Williams.

Smith still had a solo career and had some success in Europe with Dallas Frazier's "The Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp" in 1968. That same year, O.C. Smith's "Little Green Apples," written by Bobby Russell, won a Grammy for Song of the Year and Best Country Song, according to nytimes.com.

Smith also hit the Top Ten in 1969 in the US with "Daddy's Little Man." In 1974, "La La Peace Song" and 1977's "Together" were also popular.

O.C. Smith did release a number of albums throughout his career.

In 1985, Smith became a minister at City of Angels Church of Religious Science in LA.

O.C. Smith died of a heart attack in 2001 at age 65.