Country singer Connie Smith is being recognised on her 85th birthday for a landmark debut that helped establish her as one of the genre’s leading vocalists. Her first single, “Once a Day”, reached number one on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart in 1964, making her the first woman to top the chart with a debut release and earning her the description “Rolls-Royce of Country Singers”.

Born in Elkhart, Indiana, and raised largely in West Virginia and Ohio, Smith was discovered after winning a 1963 talent contest, where Bill Anderson heard her perform. “Once a Day” spent eight weeks at number one, then the longest such run by a woman; Taylor Swift surpassed it in 2012 with nine weeks. Smith later achieved 19 further top-ten country hits, shifted towards gospel music in the 1970s and eventually stepped back from country music to focus on family and faith.