 She died from cancer in Los Angeles in 1977, aged 62.A compilation of her recordings between 1945 and 1953 was issued by the Chronological Classics label in the 1990s.One of her children, Fred Sledge Smith (1933–2005), became a prominent songwriter and record producer in the 1950s and 1960s, with artists including The Olympics, Bob & Earl, and Bill Cosby.