Kate Smith Autographs
Kathryn Elizabeth Smith (May 1, 1907 – June 17, 1986) was an American contralto. Referred to as The First Lady of Radio, Smith became well known for her renditions of "God Bless America" and "When the Moon Comes over the Mountain". She began to use the descriptor The Songbird of the South in the late 1920s, while performing on the stage. This term was also used by other southern vocalists of that era; however, as the Washington D.C. Sunday Star noted, Smith was not really southern—born in Virginia, she had spent nearly all of her life in the D.C. area. But as Smith became nationally known, she became more identified with the term. By early 1929, she was being referred to that way on a regular basis: a version of the term, using "from" rather than "of," was seen in newspaper advertisements that promoted her stage performances. "Songbird of the South" was used when she appeared on the NBC Radio Network in April. Then, in the summer of that year, she starred in a Vitaphone short feature entitled "Songbird of the South," in which she sang two of her hit songs,"Bless You Sister" and "Carolina Moon."
Smith was born on May 1, 1907, in Greenville, Virginia, to Charlotte 'Lottie' Yarnell (née Hanby) and William Herman Smith and grew up in Washington, D.C. Her father owned the Capitol News Company, distributing newspapers and magazines in the greater D.C. area. She was the youngest of three daughters, the middle child dying in infancy. She failed to talk until she was four years old, but a year later she was singing at church social events. By the time she was eight, she was singing for the troops at Army camps in the Washington area during World War I. Smith never had a singing lesson in her life and possessed a 'rich range' of two and a half octaves. Her earliest performances were during amateur nights at vaudeville theaters in D.C.
Her earliest musical influences were her parents: her father sang in the choir at the Catholic church; her mother played piano at the Presbyterian church. She attended Business High School in D.C. (now Theodore Roosevelt High School), likely graduating in 1924. Alarmed by his daughter's evident penchant for the stage, her father sent her to the George Washington University School for Nursing where she attended classes for nine months between 1924 and 1925, withdrawing to pursue a career in show business.
Read more about Kate Smith on Wikipedia
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Current items with a signature of Kate Smith
These are the most current items with a signature of Kate Smith that were listed on eBay and on other online stores - click here for more items.
Traded items with a signature of Kate Smith
The most expensive item with a signature of Kate Smith (Who's on First Bud Abbott Signed 5x4 Album Page Kate Smith Hour Inscribed JSA) was sold in March 2025 for $509.99 while the cheapest item (Kate Smith Autograph Photo) found a new owner for $0.99 in March 2023. The month with the most items sold (4) was May 2025 with an average selling price of $51.35 for an autographed item of Kate Smith. Sold items reached their highest average selling price in September 2025 with $115.75 and the month that saw the lowest prices with $0.99 was September 2011. In average, an autographed item from Kate Smith is worth $29.99.
Most recently, these items with a signature of Kate Smith were sold on eBay - click here for more items.
