Kenny Smith

Detail: This is classic Kenny Smith. He's delighted when people pay attention to his work, but he doesn't necessarily want a big fuss paid to him personally. That's just not his style. Maybe if Smith had been more of a self-promoter with just a shade more self-interest, he'd be living easy and large right now by virtue of a lifetime of endless royalty payments. But that didn't happen.

Bad business decisions (and outright fraudulence) have kept Smith from enjoying the monetary fruits of his long musical labors throughout his career. Case in point: He wrote "Think Before You Walk Away," a song that was re-recorded by The Platters and has been included on any number of the band's greatest hits packages over the years, and yet Smith has never received a single royalty check from his publishing rights.

Smith will be the first to tell you the money doesn't necessarily matter to him. His love of songwriting and of music itself is what has fueled his drive over the past 50-plus years. He began singing Doo Wop at Withrow High School in the mid-1950s, forming The Enchanters and touring with them for six years. In the '60s, Smith began a long stint working at the legendary Castle Farms club and took a position with Fraternity Records first as an artist and then as a writer, arranger and producer.

Smith continued to record and release singles and work weekend gigs, but the nature of live entertainment changed in the mid-'70s, with the emphasis shifting to DJs and Disco rather than live Funk/Soul bands. By then, Smith had already started selling insurance for Allstate. His long, successful tenure with the company resulted in his induction into the company's agent hall of fame, one of only two African Americans to hold that distinction. He's as clearly proud of that accomplishment as he is of his lifetime honor from the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards.