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Kandi Barbour aka Candy Barbour (Linda Jean Smith) grew up in either Atlanta or Shawnee Mission, Kansas.

"Shoulder length straight black hair," writes Pat Riley in his X-Rated Videotape Star Index. "Very pretty facially, medium tits, and soft plush body. Started in 1976 and stopped in 1984. Visible bodily deterioration over time. Not the same as Candi Barbo."

From the Excalibur Porn Star Mall: "Kandy Barbour was a sweet young brunette who starred in over 35 features between 1976 and 1984. She was a striking woman with a bright and cheery smile, a lovely, small-breasted figure, and a light, never-too-serious attitude to her work. Kandy's strength as a sexual performer was her believability -- she never came across as fake in the least, but seemed to always be genuinely into whatever wild sex act she was engaged in.

"Kandy was discovered by photographer Diana Hardy, and had appeared in virtually every mens' magazine by the mid-1970's. Before long, Kandy decided to try her hand at the just-budding porno industry. Like everything she did, Kandy jumped right in, never hesitating for a moment. She immediately made an impression on producers and fans alike, and the roles came pouring in.

"Kandy's stunning good looks and energetic sex scenes spiced up any film she appeared in, often stealing the show with her pure erotic glow. Kandy sexed in such classic adult films as "Sex Boat," "F," The Budding of Brie," and "Sizzle," and never failed to turn in a scorching, utterly arousing performance. She left the business in 1984in order to concentrate on her exotic dance routine, but Kandy's name still conjures up erotic memories in those who have caught her always enticing act. "

Kandi features in Josh Alan Friedman's book Tales of Times Square, where she appears angry with a fellow stripper. "Anna [Turner] explains how Kandi wanted the [Dire] Straits' lead guitarist, Mark Knopfler, for herself, over drummer Pick Withers… Kandi was unable to land Knopfler. When she later ran into Anna Turner at a party, Anna was with her boyfriend who…bore a striking resemblance to Knopfler…[which] accounted the southern belle's present mental anguish."

Friedman describes Kandi: "From the neck up, she has the loveliest face in all the porn parade; an angelic Barbie doll, perfect makeup coordination and waves of black hair that bounce over her eyes. But below the neck is an odd set of hooters that leave some in confusion as she treats the old boys with flashes of them by her second song. They're large, but with imprecise aureole borders, appearing to contain too much nipple tissue; although, granted, magazines do receive fan mail from staunch Barbour nipple aficionados."

At one point in her strip act, she stops cold and bellows for Melody Burlesk manager Al Kronish. She tells him she has period. "She holds her floppy maroon dress tight between her legs. After a minute of urgent, unheard deliberation, she's back in business, and finally strips, though she hides her puss with the dress."

According to http://www.sfo.com/~archjim/kandi.htm: Kandi grew up in a devout home in the Bible belt. The author says he dated her for years:

The next time I saw Linda was a picture of her called "Puffy" on a porn CD ROM. I saw the breasts and noticed they looked like Linda's, then looked at the face and realized it was Linda. At first I thought it was just a random shot, but I soon learned she was 'Kandi Barbour - Porn Star'! Thanks to the Internet I have seen several things written about her porn career, and it never ceases to amaze me. I can imagine some women having sex and their minds going to the limitless boundaries of their sexuality! I can imagine Linda having sex and her mind going, "Ba-duh, ba-duh, ba-duh!" A woman that bad in bed had become a porn star and men were and still are getting turned on by her? It was more hilarious than fiction! It was definitely for the bucks, drugs and booze because on her best day she wasn't into sex that much. It revealed much to me about the porn industry! Linda would have sex at the drop of a hat, but it was mostly out of seeking acceptance. Kandi Barbour fans should have been around San Francisco then! She was easy to get next to and the ultimate one-night stand! She had been dropped like a dirty pair of undies by more men than any woman I've ever known so she was accustomed to being dumped. Usually after the man tried to have a conversation with her.

I had first introduced Linda to porn movies while we were still in Kansas City, and would sometimes take her to the Mitchell Brothers Theater which was right down the street from where we lived here in San Francisco. Little did either of us realize that
someday she would be performing there. That must have been strange to her. I also took her to Alex DeRenzy's Screening Room to see a movie called "The History of the Blue Movie". That is only significant because the movie is about how to get into the porn movie industry, although it's more a thinly-veiled appeal for new talent. Years later my current dentist told me he worked his way through dental school as a projectionist at the Screening Room, which is just a part of San Francisco history now. It was closed several years ago. Small world, isn't it? I guess I inadvertently made a porn star out of Linda by exposing her to porn, but I didn't get her into the business.

I hope Linda is still alive and well. She had her good qualities too, and might have even made some man, or men, very happy. I've read she died of a drug overdose in 1986, but I also read she's retired and living in Hawaii, and she's still dancing somewhere in the Northeast, so I don't know anything for sure. It wouldn't surprise me if she did OD. She was not a very happy camper in life and talked about the bridge a lot when she and I were seeing each other. From different things I've read in the newsgroups, like her bad vaginal odor problem (according to contemporary porn star Brandy Alexandre, Linda is still talked about as the worst in the industry) and spending most of her income on medical tests...