Hailing from New Orleans, Smiley – real name Overton Lemons – recorded initially for Deluxe before joining Imperial Records in 1950. His rich, blues-based voice bore certain similarities to stablemate Fats Domino, and the two singers shared the same producer in Dave Bartholomew.
I Hear You Knocking became Smiley’s most popular single, though it lost out on the charts to Gale Storm’s version the same year (1955).
Lewis died of stomach cancer in 1966 at the age of 53.
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