Life and career[edit]
Born in West Helena, Arkansas, United States, but brought up in Cairo, Illinois, he began playing professionally in 1951.[3] He joined the Muddy Waters' band in 1954 and played intermittently with that group.[3] He spent most of his life living on the West Coast of the United States.[3]
Smith played with Bacon Fat a blues group before working with Big Mama Thornton in the 1970s.[3] He played harmonica on her live album Jail in 1975.[3]
George "Harmonica" Smith died in 1983, in Los Angeles, California at the age of 59.[1]