A Close-Up Look At People Who Matter : Have Van, Will Travel--and Spread Joy
Nestled among makeshift body shops and partially stripped cars, behind a metal door labeled “Smitty,” is the cluttered garage office of Lester Smith, founder of a group called Natural High.
It’s a fitting place for the 52-year-old singer and entertainer from Chatsworth, who gave up a life driven by materialism and contacts with famous people, to spread a message about the importance of living simply and thinking positively.
Smith is the founder of a nonprofit group called Natural High, comprising five entertainers and six stagehands who perform between 30 and 80 times a year for such organizations as the Special Olympics, Say No to Drugs and Rebuild L. A. The performances include singing, dancing, puppet shows and comedy skits that tout self-esteem and optimism using a customized van as a stage and centerpiece. His story began back in the mid-1970s, when a jealous girlfriend shot him five times in the neck, back and hand while he was sleeping. The incident brought him near to death, with doctors predicting that he would never talk again, let alone sing. His wounds eventually healed, but he was left with an important realization.
“You’re just sitting there thinking about your life and wondering where you went wrong,” he said, remembering his thoughts in the hospital. “I was so far into material things that I had lost touch with what people were about.”
When the shooting occurred, Smith was a singer, music producer and auto mechanic with a mobile service of his own. Born in Pennsylvania, he had moved to Southern California in 1968 to pursue a singing career. He had been living on a decent string of luck, making money working with a band called Three Steps to Heaven and trying to produce his own album. But the shooting changed the course of his life.
“I got rid of everything I owned,” he said.
Except for a van. Smith, who had worked on cars all his life, started customizing a Chevrolet van--enlarging it by adding beds, a shower and electronic equipment. As it grew, the van started to attract attention. Smith knew that it would be an important tool in his new life, but he was not sure exactly how.
In 1981, Smith met Doreen Sullivan, a drug addict and high school dropout who had run away from home. Sullivan came to Smith trying to sell him electronic equipment for the van. He told her she could be the spokeswoman for the van if she would return home, get off drugs and go back to school. She accepted, and the group Natural High, named after a Commodores album, was created.
Each of the members of Natural High came to the group saddled with troubles of their own, including drug and alcohol addiction, involvement in crime and homelessness. The driver of the van is a convicted car thief who served time in prison before being recruited by Smith.
Brother John Crowe of the Rancho San Antonio Boys Town West home for boys in Chatsworth, where Natural High has performed annually for the last 10 years, said the members’ pasts give their message particular poignancy.
“If you’ve had a difficult experience of your own in life, you are more sensitive to others and more passionate in your plea to them,” Crowe said. “Smith has a gentle approach. He doesn’t preach, he just tells about his own life.
Mary Beth Niekowal, 34, the public relations director for the group, met Smith 10 years ago.
“I was living a fast-paced, negative life,” she said. “He slowed me down and made me see things optimistically.” Smith taught Niekowal, who is partially deaf, to sing and dance.
Smith hopes to one day take his message on a nationwide tour, using the van as a symbol. “This is a universal message,” Smith said, “proof that you can achieve what you dream.”
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