Tom Smith is a musician, lyricist and vocalist for British indie rock band Editors. In 2014, the Daily Mirror named him the singer with the widest vocal range in the UK. Smith's music is full of drama, lyric and depressing notes, although in ordinary life he tries to reason positively. “The songs are about my thoughts and feelings, but that does not mean that I have to live in accordance with this message,” the musician admits.
Biography: early years and the path to success
Thomas Michael Henry Smith was born on April 29, 1981 in a family of teachers. His birthplace is the city of Northampton near London, and the future musician spent his childhood in Stroud, Gloucestershire. Already in elementary school, he began to comprehend the basics of playing the guitar. In high school, according to Tom's recollections, he had a hard time. To the difficulties in communicating with peers was added the awkwardness due to the fact that the parents taught lessons in their son's class.
Smith continued his studies at the University of Staffordshire on a course in music technology. Here he met Chris Urbanovich, Russell Leitch and Ed Leigh, with whom he formed the musical group Pilot in 2002.
Their team moved to Birmingham to begin their journey to success. Wanting to attract the attention of music labels, the musicians changed the name of the group several times. They introduced themselves as Pilot, The Pride, Snowfield until they finally settled on Editors. Chris Urbanovich called the early years of the band's creation "dark times", when all its members were close to despair due to lack of demand and ignorance on the part of music labels. Finally, their single Bullets caught the attention of the independent label Kitchenware, and the band's debut album, The Back Room, was released on July 25, 2005.
Creation
Tom Smith's musical style was influenced by the bands Blur and Oasis, which he listened to as a teenager. The lead singer of Editors is also a fan of singers Peter Gabriel, Bruce Springsteen and British pop group Prefab Sprout. Tom's favorite and most inspiring album is Murmur by the American rock band REM. Listeners compare Smith's manner of performing with the singing of the vocalists of the musical groups The Cure, Interpol, Joy Division, REM.
The debut album The Back Room (2005) brought the Editors their first resounding success. By January 2006, he had reached an honorable second place on the British Albums Chart, received a nomination for the prestigious Mercury Prize. Critics favorably accepted the creation of the young team. Popular music site New Musical Express gave the album 8 out of 10 points, accompanied by a laudatory review: "Never before have death and despondency sounded so surprisingly inspiring and hopeful."
The musicians began a busy touring life. They went on tour with the Scottish band Franz Ferdinand. This was followed by a North American tour with Stellastarr and performances at major American festivals. In 2006, while performing in Austin at the annual events at South by Southwest, Tom suddenly lost his voice, which forced him to close the concert ahead of schedule.
Smith and his bandmates multiplied their first success with their next album, The End Has a Start, which was released on June 25, 2007. It went platinum on its first day in the UK. According to Tom, the single from this album Smokers outside the Hospital Doors was inspired by the memories of his stay in hospitals, although the musician did not visit them more often than others. And he also began to think about the inevitability of growing up and approaching death.
In 2008 the Editors received a Brit Awards nomination for Best British Group. They toured a lot in America, Europe, Canada. The popularity of the group grew, their concerts attracted several thousand spectators. In addition to the two mentioned albums, Editors currently has four more studio works:
- In This Light and on This Evening (2009);
- The Weight of Your Love (2013);
- In Dream (2015);
- Violence (2018).
On the third album In This Light and on This Evening, the band changed their usual sound in favor of more synthesized electronic music. In 2012, due to creative differences, Chris Urbanovich left the team.
In parallel with his Editors activities, Tom Smith collaborated with other bands, performing vocals on selected songs. Musical groups with which he worked:
- Cicada (2009);
- Tired Pony (2010);
- The Japanese Popstars (2011);
- Indochine (2012);
- Magnus (2014).
In 2011, Smith collaborated with his good friend Andy Burrows to record the album Funny Looking Angels as part of the Smith & Burrows project. To promote this work, the creative tandem gave concerts in Europe. Tom's backing vocals can also be heard on several songs on Andy Burroughs' solo album. With Editors' songs in 2012, he performed at a recital in Brussels, since the band is no less popular in Belgium than in the UK.
The Editors' latest album, "Violence", received more critical acclaim than the previous two. They called this work "hopeful" and heard a "refreshing direction" in the band's music.
Tom Smith is known for his expressive demeanor on stage. For example, he once interrupted a performance when he saw that the listeners were too keen on giving away free hot dogs and not on Editors' music. A performer can afford long pauses in a concert when he is dissatisfied with his singing or some technical issues. Although fans point out that over the years, he has become much more restrained.
Personal life
In 2005, Tom Smith began dating Edith Bowman (1974), who worked as a DJ for BBC Radio 1. They were married on December 22, 2013, and before that they managed to become the parents of two sons - Rudy Bray (2008) and Spike (2013).
Tom admits that his daily life is completely focused on his fathering and family responsibilities. He takes his sons to school, feeds, walks with them. In his spare time he composes songs. Smith considers social networking a useless and tedious task, so he deleted his personal account on the Internet without regret.
While on tour, the soloist and his colleagues in the group spend their leisure time reading, playing, watching films. Sleep and regular jogging help Tom replenish his energy reserve. His passion for running is so serious that in 2011, together with his partner Russell Leitch, he even took part in the famous London Marathon. Football is another Smith love. Since childhood, he has been a fan of the London club Arsenal and tries to attend his matches.
