Born on December 16, 1933, as John Robert Smith. He became known as Johnny ‘Hammond’ Smith in the mid-50 and 60s as he emerged as an organist to avoid confusion with the guitarist John Smith and the more famous organist Jimmy Smith.
Johnny mainly played Soul-Jazz and Jazz-Funk through out his career, but very early in his career he played bop and hard-bop. The hammond in his name comes from his use of the Hammond B-3 Organ. He dropped the smith part of his name when he signed on sister label of CTI records Kudu. Smith taught at the Cal Poly Pomona music department for a couple of years, beginning in January 1987. Johnny died on June 4, 1997.