Song Muse Injected John Belushi With Fatal Drug Dose – Deadline

Cathy Smith, the only singer-songwriter girlfriend who was perhaps best remembered for inspiring the hit song “Sundown” when she did not meet John Belushi at the Chateau Marmont on March 5, 1982, died on August 18 at the age of of 73.

Her death was reported by Canada’s The Globe and Mail. The longtime resident of Maple Ridge, British Columbia, had been on oxygen and in poor health in recent years, the newspaper said.

Smith, who was a backup singer (and occasional drug dealer) for the Canadian rockers who would later become The Band (they claimed “The Weight” was inspired by them), admitted that he was Belushi injection with the heroin and cocaine leading to his death at the age of 33. In a 1986 general election, she pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and various drug charges and served a 15-month prison sentence at the California Institution for Women. After her release, she was deported to her native Canada, where she took a job in Toronto as legal secretary.

Until Belushi’s death, Smith was known in rock music circles for backing vocals for Levon Helm, Rick Danko, and Richard Manuel, later founders of The Band, and became Lightfoot’s girlfriend and muse in the early 1970s. Lightfoot wrote the # 1 1974 hit “Sundown” about his tumultuous, extramarital, and occasionally violent relationship with Smith, the dark lyrics masked by a flaming, bluesy melody: my back stairs. ”

In the late 1970s, Smith was a backup singer for country star Hoyt Axton, and, according to Wired, Bob Woodward’s 1984 biography of Bob Woodward, sold drugs to the Rolling Stones’ Ron Wood and Keith Richards. Although she had met Belushi shortly when Lightfoot appeared Saturday Night Live in 1976, she became acquainted with comedy again through her dealings with Wood and Richards.

Smith was portrayed by Patti D’Arbanville in Woodward’s 1989 film adaptation by director Larry Peerce Wired with Michael Chiklis in the lead role as Belushi.

Smith was quickly dismissed for her role in Belushi’s death (a sentiment largely avoided by Belushi’s male drug competitions, including friends Robin Williams and Robert De Niro, both on the night of his death). cocaine with the comedian snoring, according to Shawn Levy’s 2019 book The castle on Sunset).

But at least one old friend remained faithful. In an interview this week with The Globe and Mail, Lightfoot said, “Cathy was a great lady. Men were attracted to her, and she used to make me jealous. But I have nothing bad to say about her.”