Lavay Smith

Lavay Smith’s vintage style and sultry vocals have made her a fixture on the San Francisco Bay Area music scene for decades. She is the owner of Fat Note Records and maintains a busy schedule with her seven-piece band, Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, performing original compositions as well as a large repertoire of classic tunes.

Lavay Smith grew up in Long Beach, California, attending Fountain Valley High School. Smith formed an alternative rock-country-blues band in the late ‘80s. But after she started listening to her parents’ Bessie Smith records, she knew jazz would be in her future.

By 1988, Smith had joined an L.A. jazz trio called Bo Grumpus, which featured pianist-arranger Chris Siebert. The next year, Smith and Siebert moved to San Francisco and began assembling the original Skillet Lickers, which played local bars and clubs before touring the U.S. and Europe.