Sammi Smith (August 5, 1943, Orange County, CA - February 12, 2005 Oklahoma City, OK) was a country music singer, best known for her ballad, "Help Me Make It Through The Night", which reached #1 on the US charts in 1971. Smith won a Grammy for best country vocal performance-female in 1971 for "Help Me Make It Through The Night," which was written by Kris Kristofferson. Smith produced her first hit, "So Long Charlie Brown," in 1967. Six years later, she moved to Dallas, where she joined the "Outlaw Movement" with Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. Smith also found time to celebrate her Apache heritage. She was a frequent visitor to an Apache reservation in Arizona, where she made pottery and jewelry. Her grown son, actor and musician Waylon Payne born from a reportedly short-lived relationship with long-time Willie Nelson guitarist Jody Payne, played the small role of Jerry Lee Lewis in the award-winning and critically lauded 2005 Johnny Cash biopic "Walk The Line".
