Margo Smith will perform in The Villages next month.
The beloved country singing Villager, also known as “The Tennessee Yodeler,” will be at the Eisenhower Recreation Center on Friday, April 26 as part of the Classic Country Music & Dance show. The event is being presented by C & S Music and also will feature Villager John Manion.
Doors open at 6 p.m. and the show lasts from 7-9 p.m. Advance tickets or reservations are $12.50, with general admission at the door being $15. Call (352) 301-4532 for more information.
Smith broke through the national country charts during the 1970s with a couple of No. 1 hits: “Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You” and “It Only Hurts for a Little While.” Later in the ’70s, she had a couple of Top-10 hits, “Take My Breath Away,” “Still A Woman” and “Little Things Mean a Lot.”
One of Smith’s trademark songs is “He Taught Me To Yodel,” hence her nickname of “The Tennessee Yodeler. She often attends Fairway Christian Church in The Villages and has performed gospel music there with her daughter, Holly Watson, known locally for doing Lexus commercials on Orlando television stations.
Smith is a member of the International Country Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame and also has earned a Canadian Country Music Association Living Legend Award. She appeared at Hope Lutheran Church with a premiere band called Strings and Things from The Villages Banjolele Club in April 2017.
Smith, who overcame health issues in 2016, was involved in a near-fatal accident in The Villages in 2014 when a teenage driver ran a red light and hit her car. She would have not survived if she didn’t have a seatbelt on, police said. She suffered multiple serious injuries in the accident but made a comeback to sing on stage about a year later.
Manion is known in Florida’s Friendliest Hometown for his performances in the Showcase of Talent events. In the April 2018 show, he made like Frank Sinatra on “Summer Wind.” In July 2017, he performed a stirring rendition of Bobby Vinton’s “There I’ve Said It Again.” And in August 2015, he joined with the Off Broadway Dancers to kick off the Showcase of Talent with a rousing, toe-tapping version of “All My Ex’s Live in Texas.”
