| Frankie Smith | |
| Background: | solo_singer |
| Birth Date: | January 29, 1953 |
| Birth Place: | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. |
| Death Place: | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Genre: | R&B, soul, funk, disco, old school hip hop |
| Occupation: | Singer, songwriter |
| Instruments: | Vocals, keyboards |
| Years Active: | 1979–2019 |
| Label: | Paramount Records, WMOT Records, Amstate Records |
| Associated Acts: | The O'Jays, The Spinners |
Franklyn Leon Smith (January 29, 1953[1] – March 8, 2019[2]) was an American funk musician and R&B/soul songwriter. He was best known for his 1981 hit single "Double Dutch Bus".
Smith went to college in Tennessee for elementary education with a minor in music. He became a writer for funk and soul artists such as the O'Jays and The Spinners. In 1972 he would record for Paramount, releasing a single called "Double Dutch" under the name Franklin Franklin, but it failed to become a hit.[3] He was also influential in the careers of the rappers Tone Loc, Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg.
With his 1981 single "Double Dutch Bus", released by WMOT Records,[4] Smith popularized a nonsensical form of slang (from his song "Slang thang", 1981 WMOT, Records), in which "iz" is placed in the middle of a word (for example, the word "place" becomes "plizace"), or the last letters of a word are replaced with "-izzle" ("sure" becomes shizzle). A type of infix, it found greater popularity later on in hip hop and rap with its usage by Snoop Dogg.[5]
Smith died in Philadelphia on March 8, 2019.