Mark Smith (musician - producer)
Encyclopedia
Mark Smith was a British
bassist
and record producer
, who played bass guitar
in recording
s and performances
with The Waterboys
, Leo Sayer
, Gonzales
, Percy Sledge
, Terry Reid
, Alvin Stardust
, Chris Farlowe
, Patricia Kaas
, Bryan Ferry
, Tony O'Malley
, Barbara Dickson
, Shania Twain
, Zoot Sims
, Neneh Cherry
, Lionel Richie
, Ronan Keating
, Malcolm McLaren
, Charlotte Church
, Van Morrison
, George Michael
, and Javier Álvarez.
Born Mark Alexander Smith, he also produced records
for young and up and coming British bands. Smith was the permanent bassist in The Waterboys in 2009, and an oft-time performer with Tony O'Malley. He had his own music performance outfit, The Futility Orchestra.
Smith was the bass guitarist with The Adam Phillips Band, that included, Adam Phillips
, Paul Stacey
, Jo Burt
, Ash Soan
, Mike Gorman, and Melvin Duffy.
The 1970s jazz
funk
band
, Kokomo
, was temporarily reformed in May 2008. With Smith were Tony O'Malley, Mel Collins
, Neil Hubbard
, Adam Phillips, Andy Hamilton
, Bernie Holland, Glen Le Fleur, Paddy McHugh, Dyan Birch, and Frank Collins
. There were also performances by Eddy Armani and Franke Pharoah.
Mark Smith died suddenly at his Battersea
, London
home, in November 2009.
Fellow record producer Robin Millar
, who met Smith in 1990, and worked with the bassist and keyboard player on several Patricia Kaas recordings said he was one of the "true unsung heroes". Millar added, "Mark was one of the great people and players. He was one of those guys who never pushed himself forward, but was a great all round musician – a real musicians’ musician".
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
and record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, who played bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
in recording
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
s and performances
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
with The Waterboys
The Waterboys
The Waterboys are a band formed in 1983 by Mike Scott. The band's membership, past and present, has been composed mainly of musicians from Scotland, Ireland and England. Edinburgh, London, Dublin, Spiddal, New York, and Findhorn have all served as homes for the group. The band has played in a...
, Leo Sayer
Leo Sayer
Leo Sayer is a British singer-songwriter, musician, and entertainer whose singing career has spanned four decades. Sayer became a naturalised Australian citizen in 2009. Sayer was a top singles and album act on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1970s...
, Gonzales
Gonzales
Gonzales is a variant spelling of the common Spanish González . It may refer to:-People:*Alberto Gonzales, former U.S. Attorney General...
, Percy Sledge
Percy Sledge
Percy Sledge is an American R&B and soul performer who recorded the hit "When a Man Loves a Woman" in 1966.-Early career:...
, Terry Reid
Terry Reid
Terry Reid is an English rock vocalist and guitarist. He has performed with high profile musicians, as a supporting act, a session musician, and sideman.- History :...
, Alvin Stardust
Alvin Stardust
Alvin Stardust is an English pop singer and stage actor.-Career:...
, Chris Farlowe
Chris Farlowe
Chris Farlowe is an English rock, blues and soul singer. He is best known for his hit single "Out of Time", which rose to #1 in the UK Singles Chart in 1966, and his association with Colosseum and the Thunderbirds.Outside his music career, Farlowe collects war memorabilia.-Career:Inspired by Lonnie...
, Patricia Kaas
Patricia Kaas
Patricia Kaas is a French singer and actress.Kaas is a very successful French-speaking singer, with an International following...
, Bryan Ferry
Bryan Ferry
Bryan Ferry, CBE is an English singer, musician, and songwriter. Ferry came to public prominence in the early 1970s as lead vocalist and principal songwriter with the band Roxy Music, who enjoyed a highly successful career with three number one albums and ten singles entering the top ten charts in...
, Tony O'Malley
Tony O'Malley (musician)
Tony O'Malley is a British composer, singer, arranger, and keyboard player. He was the keyboardist for Arrival who had a #8 UK hit with "Friends" in 1970, and the hit "I Will Survive", written and arranged by fellow Arrival member Frank Collins...
, Barbara Dickson
Barbara Dickson
Barbara Ruth Dickson, OBE is a Scottish singer whose hits include "I Know Him So Well" and "January February"...
, Shania Twain
Shania Twain
Shania Twain, OC is a Canadian country pop singer-songwriter. Her album The Woman in Me , brought her fame and her 1997 album Come On Over, became the best-selling album of all time by a female musician in any genre, and the best-selling country album of all time. It has sold over 40 million...
, Zoot Sims
Zoot Sims
John Haley "Zoot" Sims was an American jazz saxophonist, playing mainly tenor and soprano.-Biography:He was born in Inglewood, California, the son of vaudeville performers Kate Haley and John Sims. Growing up in a performing family, Sims learned to play both drums and clarinet at an early age...
, Neneh Cherry
Neneh Cherry
Neneh Mariann Cherry is a Swedish singer-songwriter, rapper, and occasional DJ and broadcaster...
, Lionel Richie
Lionel Richie
Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr. , is an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Since 1968, he has been a member of the musical group Commodores signed to Motown Records...
, Ronan Keating
Ronan Keating
Ronan Patrick John Keating is an Irish recording artist, singer-songwriter, musician, and philanthropist. Keating debuted on the professional music scene alongside Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Shane Lynch and Stephen Gately, in 1994 as the lead singer of Boyzone. His solo career started in 1999, and...
, Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was an English performer, impresario, self-publicist and manager of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls...
, Charlotte Church
Charlotte Church
Charlotte Maria Church is a Welsh singer-songwriter, actress and television presenter. She rose to fame in childhood as a classical singer before branching into pop music in 2005. By 2007, she had sold more than 10 million records worldwide including over 5 million in the United States...
, Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
, George Michael
George Michael
George Michael is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who rose to fame in the 1980s when he formed the pop duo Wham! with his school friend, Andrew Ridgeley...
, and Javier Álvarez.
Born Mark Alexander Smith, he also produced records
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
for young and up and coming British bands. Smith was the permanent bassist in The Waterboys in 2009, and an oft-time performer with Tony O'Malley. He had his own music performance outfit, The Futility Orchestra.
Smith was the bass guitarist with The Adam Phillips Band, that included, Adam Phillips
Adam Phillips (composer musician)
Adam Phillips is a British jazz and blues guitarist and singer.-Career:Phillips has performed and recorded with Tina Turner, Dave Lewis, Ricky Martin, Steps, Britney Spears, Ronan Keating, Laura Pausini, Celine Dion, Maxi Priest, The Corrs, Shayne Ward, Boyzone, Hamish Stuart, Lionel Richie, Renato...
, Paul Stacey
Paul Stacey
Paul Stacey is a British guitarist and producer, best known for his work with Oasis and The Black Crowes.Paul Stacey's early work included the 1990s band, The Lemon Trees and Denzil....
, Jo Burt
Jo Burt
Jo Burt is an English Rock and heavy metal bassist, guitar player, songwriter and vocalist.Burt is known for being the bassist for Black Sabbath during their 1987 tour in support of the album The Eternal Idol...
, Ash Soan
Ash Soan
Ashley "Ash" Soan is a British drummer. His influences include Steve Ferrone, Jim Keltner, James Gadson, Phil Rudd, Art Blakey and Jeff Porcaro.-Career:...
, Mike Gorman, and Melvin Duffy.
The 1970s jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
, Kokomo
Kokomo (band)
-Career:Formed in May 1973 by ex-members of the pop group Arrival , Kokomo's ten-piece line-up became: Dyan Birch , Frank Collins , Paddy McHugh , Tony O'Malley , Alan Spenner , Neil Hubbard , Mel Collins , Jody Linscott , Terry Stannard and Jim Mullen...
, was temporarily reformed in May 2008. With Smith were Tony O'Malley, Mel Collins
Mel Collins
Mel Collins is a British saxophonist and flautist and session musician.He has worked in a wide variety of contexts ranging from R&B and blues rock to jazz, but is perhaps known for his work in progressive rock, as with King Crimson, Camel and the Alan Parsons Project.-Career:Collins has worked...
, Neil Hubbard
Neil Hubbard
Neil Hubbard is a British guitarist who performed with Juicy Lucy , The Grease Band, Bluesology, Joe Cocker, Roxy Music, Kokomo, B.B. King, Kevin Rowland, and Tony O'Malley; and played on the original 1970 concept album, Jesus Christ Superstar....
, Adam Phillips, Andy Hamilton
Andy Hamilton (pop musician)
Andy Hamilton is a British saxophonist who has played with Duran Duran , Wham!, Elton John, Pet Shop Boys, Tina Turner, George Michael, Paul McCartney, Radiohead, Bon Jovi and David Bowie....
, Bernie Holland, Glen Le Fleur, Paddy McHugh, Dyan Birch, and Frank Collins
Frank Collins (composer-singer)
Frank Collins is a British composer, singer and arranger who was a leading light with the bands The Excels, Arrival, and Kokomo...
. There were also performances by Eddy Armani and Franke Pharoah.
Mark Smith died suddenly at his Battersea
Battersea
Battersea is an area of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is an inner-city district of South London, situated on the south side of the River Thames, 2.9 miles south-west of Charing Cross. Battersea spans from Fairfield in the west to Queenstown in the east...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
home, in November 2009.
Fellow record producer Robin Millar
Robin Millar
Robin John Christian Millar CBE is an English musician, songwriter and record producer.-Early life:...
, who met Smith in 1990, and worked with the bassist and keyboard player on several Patricia Kaas recordings said he was one of the "true unsung heroes". Millar added, "Mark was one of the great people and players. He was one of those guys who never pushed himself forward, but was a great all round musician – a real musicians’ musician".
External links
- Interview. Keef TroubleKeef TroubleKeef Trouble is an English composer, singer and musician.-Keef Trouble: Career:Trouble studied at The Slade School of Fine Art, London, from 1968 to 1972...
interviewed Mark Smith - The Waterboys
- Mark Smith - The Futility Orchestra