Marvin ‘Sweet Louie’ Smith of the Checkmates dies on cruise ship

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/12/2007 (6849 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LAS VEGAS – Marvin “Sweet Louie” Smith, one half of the R&B duo, the Checkmates, has died. He was 68.

Smith died Saturday of a heart attack aboard the Caribbean Princess cruise ship in the Caribbean, where he was scheduled to perform, said his agent, Mike Moloney.

Smith’s musical partner, Sonny Charles, a friend since childhood in Fort Wayne, Indiana, found Smith in his cabin before they were to rehearse for a show that evening, Moloney said.

The two had served in the Army together under the late-1950s “buddy system,” touring in the entertainment division of the Army’s Special Services, after which they set their sights on Las Vegas.

The act took off in’64, when the Checkmates started performing at the Pussycat A Go Go, located on what is now the site of the Wynn Las Vegas resort. The group went on to perform at the Sands and Caesars Palace.

The duo’s best-known recordings include “Love is All I Have to Give” and a remake of “Proud Mary.” But’69’s Phil Spector-produced “Black Pearl” was their most successful single, a Top 10 hit.

Smith was a contemporary of some of the greatest performers of all time, including Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Bill Cosby, Moloney said.

Some of the duo’s highlights included performing with Sinatra at the Oakland Coliseum, a concert at Madison Square Garden with Herb Alpert and singing the national anthem for the “Thrilla in Manila,” the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier heavyweight championship boxing match in the Philippines.

The Checkmates were inducted into the Las Vegas Hall of Fame in 2000.