Arlene Smith, the lead vocalist of the all-female doo-wop group the Chantels, died on July 29 at age 84. Smith’s death in a hospital in the Bronx, where she was born, was caused by a heart attack, her manager and friend, Paul Errante, confirmed. The original five-member lineup of the Chantels formed in the early 1950s, with Smith and four of her Bronx schoolmates. “It was heartfelt and pure girl power,” the Ronettes’ Ronnie Spector told the Wall Street Journal in 2016. While not the first all-Black female group, the Chantels were trailblazers in the industry, despite the inherent marketing difficulties in pre-civil rights era America.