Curt Smith

For the author, see Curt Smith (author).

Curt Smith

Curt Smith (born June 24 1961, Bath, Somerset) is an English singer, bassist, synthesizer player and songwriter. He is best known for forming the band Tears for Fears, along with childhood friend Roland Orzabal. Now also a solo artist, he released his third album Halfway, pleased in May 2008.

Musical groups

Graduate

Smith met Roland Orzabal when both were teenagers. They first formed a band at school, for which Smith taught himself to play bass guitar. They next formed the ska influenced band Graduate , which achieved fame in Europe, and released its only album in 1980.

Neon

They next were in the band Neon. Fellow band members included Pete Byrne and Rob Fisher who went on to become the duo Naked Eyes.

Tears for Fears

Main article: Tears for Fears

After Graduate and Neon disbanded, Smith and Orzabal founded Tears for Fears. Their debut album, 1983's landmark The Hurting, produced three international bestselling singles – "Change," "Mad World", and "Pale Shelter" – each with lead vocals provided by Smith.

Their 1985 album Songs from the Big Chair was even more successful, yielding hits including "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" (with Smith again on lead vocals), "Shout," and "Head Over Heels” (which Smith co-wrote).

The duo spent the next several years recording their 1990 album The Seeds of Love, which proved to be another international bestseller. Smith’s last single as a lead vocalist with the group was Seeds’ "Advice For The Young At Heart." They were asked to perform at Live Aid, but declined due to the stress of promoting their own material constantly without a break. Increasing tensions between himself and Orzabal prompted Smith to leave the band shortly after the album’s release and he moved to New York.

In 2000, routine paperwork obligations led to Orzabal and Smith's first conversation in nearly a decade. The two patched up their differences and began writing (with Pettus) 2004’s Everybody Loves a Happy Ending. In the meantime, “Mad World” was covered by Gary Jules and included on the Donnie Darko soundtrack. Having reached the top of the UK singles chart at Christmas 2003, it re-ignited interest in the group's earlier work and their 1992 Greatest Hits album was re-released.

Solo albums

Soul on Board

After leaving Tears for Fears in 1991, Smith recorded his first solo album Soul On Board. The album was unsuccessful in the UK, and was not released at all in the U.S. Smith later claimed that he made the album purely to fulfill his record contract with Phonogram/Mercury.

Mayfield

After moving to New York, Smith formed the band Mayfield with guitarist-producer Charlton Pettus and which also featured Russ Irwin. The band was mostly a live band, as Smith wanted to play gigs in small clubs. The band did release a self-titled album, which met with little success. Smith later released the album 'Aeroplane'. In the U.S., this was a six song EP, but in Canada and elsewhere, it was essentially the earlier Mayfield album combined with additional songs from the U.S. EP.

Halfway, pleased

Main article: Halfway, Pleased

During 2001 Smith began work on what was to become Halfway, pleased, but the project was put on hold when he began speaking to Roland Orzabal again after 9 years of silence. Their conversations culminated in TFF reforming for 2004’s Everybody Loves a Happy Ending which led to a worldwide tour, so it wasn’t until 2006 that Smith resumed work on "Halfway, pleased." The semi-autobiographical album explores Smith’s relationships with his children, parents and friends.

In April 2007, French record label XIII Bis Records released Halfway, pleased in France. Its 14 tracks included the original version of "Who You Are" (which was recorded by Tears for Fears on Everybody Loves a Happy Ending); a live version of "Snow Hill" from the 2005 Tears for Fears UK tour; the single version of "Seven Of Sundays" (also recorded as a duet with French singer SO); and a cover of "On Ira Tous au Paradis" (also available on A Tribute to Polnareff). Two music videos were made for "Seven of Sundays" – one of the solo track, and one of the duet with SO.

All the songs except "Seven of Sundays” were co-written by Smith and Pettus. The solo version of “Seven of Sundays” was co-written by Pettus and Chesney Hawkes; Smith and Sophie Saillet helped adapt the song for the duet version.

Smith finally released the album in the U.S. and the rest of the world in May 2008 via his own KOOK Media label. The KOOK release features a slightly different track lineup, eliminating the Ponareff tribute and adding two new acoustic tracks (“Coming Out” and “Seven of Sundays”). It was released under a Creative Commons license which allows fans to distribute, perform and use the songs so long as the uses are non-commercial and attributed to Smith.

Personal life

Childhood

In his early years in Bath, Smith attended the Beechen Cliff School and lived on the Snow Hill council estate (subject of the track “Snow Hill”).

Family

Smith has been married to marketing executive Frances Pennington since 1996. They live in Los Angeles, California with their two daughters, Diva and Wilder.

Hobbies

Smith is a longtime football fan and supports Manchester United F.C. He was guest commentator for the Champions Soccer Radio Network;s UEFA Champions League 2008 Finals pre-game show.

Nationality

Smith became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2007, and supports Barack Obama in the 2008 U.S. presidential race.

See also

• Tears for Fears
• Roland Orzabal
• Ian Stanley
• Manny Elias

External links

• Official Website
• Curt Smith's MySpace
• Curt Smith's Facebook
• Curt Smith on iMeem
• Curt Smith on Virb
• Rolling Stone - Curt Smith

• Curt Smith at IMDb