Mira Ann Smith (or often credited as Myra Smith; October 22, 1924 – August 29, 1989) was an American songwriter, music industry pioneer, record label owner, studio engineer, and multi-instrumentalist. In 1955, she founded Royal Audio Music, Inc. (a.k.a. Ram Records) and became one of the first women to own her own record company. Her success led some in the music business to dub her “the female Sam Phillips." Smith is most well known for the songs she wrote with singer/songwriter, Margaret Lewis (Warwick), many of which charted on the Billboard Top 10. Smith and Lewis found their greatest songwriting success with singer, Jeannie C. Riley, and wrote many of her songs including, “The Girl Most Likely”, “Oh Singer”, “The Rib” and “There Never Was a Time.” In addition, Smith and Lewis wrote hit songs for artists such as David Houston ("Mountain of Love"), Margaret Whiting ("I Almost Called Your Name"), and Peggy Scott and Jo Jo Benson ("Soulshake"). Four artists charted on Billboard with the Smith and Lewis song “Reconsider Me”: Johnny Adams (1969), Ray Pillow (1969), John Wesly Ryles (1971) and Narvel Felts (1975). Smith received six outstanding achievement awards from the Broadcast Music Industry (BMI). In 1988, she was inducted into the Southern Songwriters Hall of Fame, and in 1995 Smith was the first woman inducted into the Women in Music Hall of Fame. Early life and influences Smith was born in 1926 in Alexandria, Louisiana to parents George W. Smith and Beulah Martin Smith. Her mother was a seamstress for The Fashion, Inc., a women's clothing company. She grew up attending the local Baptist church. Smith had two older sisters, Kathleen and Birdie Lee and from an early age, all three were encouraged to play music. Her parents saved their money and bought Smith an expensive Martin guitar on which she quickly became proficient. In 1955, Smith was elected president of the newly organized Song Writers Club of Shreveport, which was founded to give young writers the opportunity to introduce their work to the public. The club started with 6 members. Smith was greatly inspired by Les Paul, both by his guitar playing and his innovations with multi-track studio recording. When the first Les Paul guitar came on the market, she “had to have” one. Louisiana Hayride Smith was a fan and later performed on the Louisiana Hayride, a live radio show recorded from the city