death_date death_place years_active alias birth_place label name background birth_date genre article_title birth_name occupation
5 september 1998 maui , hawaii c. 1954 -- 1990s joe smith joseph c. smith maywood , illinois aladdin , original sound , fifo , world pacific , specialty , vita , dot , aura sonny knight solo_singer 17 may 1934 pop , rhythm and blues sonny knight
 joseph coleman smith singer , songwriter , pianist , author
sonny knight

joseph coleman smith -lrb- 17 may 1934 -- 5 september 1998 -rrb- , who performed and recorded under the name sonny knight , was an african-american singer , songwriter and author .
his biggest hit was `` confidential '' , which reached the pop and r&b charts in 1956 , and he continued to record into the 1960s .
in 1981 , using his real name , he wrote `` the day the music died '' , a fictionalised account of racism in the american music business in the 1950s .
