Betty Smith was born on July 6, 1929 in Sileby, Leicestershire, England. She studied the saxophone as a young child and began playing the alto saxophone when she was nine in Archie's Juveniles, not concentrating on jazz until her early teens.

1947 saw Smith touring the Middle East with pianist Billy Penrose, and then with Ivy Benson's evening gown clad Girls' Band, playing for off duty Nuremberg trials officials, and in 1948 with Rudy Starita's All Girls Band to play for the troops.

Women jazz musician were rare in the Fifties, but Betty,…