Cathy Smith, ex-backup singer who spent 15 months in jail for John Belushi’s death, dies at age 73

Smith was also the inspiration behind Gordon Lightfoot’s 1974 hit ‘Sundown’

Cathy Smith and attorney Howard Weitzman pictured in court in 1986 (AP)

Cathy Smith, the woman best known for injecting John Belushi with a fatal dose of heroin and cocaine in 1986, has died on 18 August aged 73.

Smith, who also inspired Gordon Lightfoot’s hit song “Sundown”, had been on oxygen for the past few years, according to Canada’s The Globe and Mail newspaper.

In 1986, Smith was convicted of involuntary manslaughter over the death of the Saturday Night Live star four years prior, having pleaded no contest to the charge, as well as several others drugs charges.

After her conviction, she served a 15-month prison sentence at the California Institute for Women.

Following her release, Smith was deported to Canada, where she was born, reportedly finding employment as a legal secretary.

John Belushi (right) alongside Ray Charles and Dan Aykroyd in ‘The Blues Brothers’ (Universal Pictures)

Before Belushi’s death on 5 March 1982, Smith was known as a back up singer, working with Levon Helm, Rick Danko and Richard Manuel, who would later become founding members of The Band. It has sometimes been claimed that she was also the inspiration for The Band’s famous song “The Weight”.

In 1984, Smith released a memoir, entitled Chasing the Dragon, in which she addressed Belushi’s death, as well as her own struggles with addiction.

Bob Woodward’s biography of Belushi, released in 1984, also alleged that she sold drugs to Rolling Stones members Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards.

In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Smith’s former partner Lightfoot said: “Cathy was a great lady.

“Men were drawn to her, and she used to make me jealous. But I don’t have a bad thing to say about her.”

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