Tim Smith (Cardiacs)

A childhood photo of Smith

Smith was born on 3 July 1961 in Carshalton, Surrey, England.[6] He and his older brother Jim acquired an interest in music around 1972 from their neighbourhood friend Geoff Shelton buying an electric guitar.[7] Jim Smith bought a bass guitar so that he and Geoff could play a blues riff together, while Smith owned a snare drum and would drum with them. The next year, Shelton lent Smith an LP on how to play the guitar, teaching him to play the G chord during a visit. Smith learnt the song "Frankie and Johnny", and played it whilst his mum sang. Around the same time, he heard a section on a record that "[made] his stomach go funny and [gave] him goosebumps". It changed his perception of music,[7] and may have inspired the sound of his compositions. After that, Jim stopped playing bass until 1977.

Some songs written by Smith at around age 13, notably "Interlude" from their debut album and "Billion" from Sing to God, would later be made into Cardiacs tracks.[8] In an interview, Smith commented about his songs written at a young age:

It depends on what year they were done, but we were really only youngsters then. A few songs have popped up on the later albums that I wrote when I was about thirteen. The one on [Sing to God] called "Billion", I did it when I was thirteen. Sometimes I put an old one on that I made when I was little, just for luck. "Interlude" on A Little Man and a House ... is another one. I just found it laying around on a bit of paper and thought "Ah, let's stick that one on it!" It's all for superstitious reasons, really.[8]

Smith attended Fleetwood Secondary School in Chessington with his friend Colvin Mayers. There, he met Mark Cawthra and Peter Tagg, who would later play in Cardiacs. In 1975, Smith and Cawthra formed an unnamed group with organist David Philpot. They played instrumentals inspired by Egg. The band never played live and Dave Philpot died a few years later. His miniKORG synthesiser was later inherited by Cardiacs.[7]

Cawthra was suspended from school and, after staying at the Kaleidoscope hotel in Kingston, moved to York. During that time, he and Smith would send each other tapes of unkind songs they had written for each other.[7] Smith played in another band at the age of 16 called Gazunder alongside the Sound frontman Adrian Borland and rock drummer Bruce Bizland,[7][9] which sounded like the rock instrumentals on David Bowie's The Man Who Sold the World (1970).[10]

On 25 June 2008,[20] Smith had a heart attack after attending a gig by My Bloody Valentine. Bandmate Kavus Torabi remembers "making up the spare room and going to bed, expecting [Smith] to arrive in a taxi, but he never came."[21]

Smith's heart attack had triggered a major stroke and an episode of cerebral anoxia[22][2] which was treated in intensive care at University College Hospital. Although there was some initial optimism[23][21] - according to Craig Fortnam, "he was sat up in bed and smiling",[21] - Smith was thought to have had had a second stroke in hospital a few days later while he recuperated. This in turn caused brain damage through hypoxia, which left him paralysed down one side of the body and unable to speak.[23] He was eventually diagnosed with the rare neurological condition dystonia, which causes muscles to contract uncontrollably.[24][25][26][27][23][22]

As an outcome of his injuries and subsequent condition, Smith was denied movement and speech, prompting him to retire from live performances.[28][29] Cardiacs went on an indefinite hiatus following his hospitalisation, leaving the "LSD" album unfinished.[30][31]

In 2013, 2015 and 2017, events dubbed The Alphabet Business Convention were held in celebration of and with all proceeds funding Smith and his ongoing recovery. Among other things, they featured live music from bands within the Cardiacs' circle.[32][33][34]

In July 2016, a special one-day concert took place in Preston, called The Whole World Window with all the funds going towards helping Smith get better. A cassette and CD album of the same name were also released via Hyena Inc containing performances by the same bands.[35] In January 2018 an appeal was launched on the crowdfunding website JustGiving with the aim of raising £40,000 to fund Smith's ongoing care. The target amount was exceeded in the first day and a new target of £100,000 was set to provide for a year's care.[36][37]

On 25 October 2018, Smith received the honorary degree of Doctor of Music from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. His brother Jim accepted the honour on his behalf.[38]

Smith died on the evening of 21 July 2020 at the age of 59, following another heart attack.[9] His death was announced by his brother and bandmate Jim Smith and bandmate Kavus Torabi.[39] Musicians including Steven Wilson,[40] Mike Patton,[41] Graham Coxon[42] and Dave Rowntree[43] of Blur paid tribute to Smith.

Smith owned and operated his own recording studio Apollo 8 (at various locations, with the final one being near Salisbury, Wiltshire) and had a long list of production credits to his name.[44] Since the early 1990s, Smith produced recordings for a variety of musicians and musical groups, many of whom belong to the so-called "Cardiacs family". These include Levitation, Sidi Bou Said, Eat, The Monsoon Bassoon, Wildhearts frontman Ginger (including his Silver Ginger 5 and Howling Willie Cunt projects), Stars in Battledress, Oceansize, William D. Drake, the Shrubbies, The Scaramanga Six and The Trudy.[45]

Smith created and/or edited pop videos for various bands including Sepultura, Dark Star, Zu and The Frank and Walters, as well as Cardiacs.[46] In 2008, Smith created a film called The Wildhearts Live in the Studio: A Film By Tim Smith, featuring The Wildhearts playing their self-titled album along with surreal interludes.[47]

• Tim Smith discography at Discogs
• Tim Smith at IMDb
• 2016 Sea Nymphs interview with Prog Magazine, Tim's first interview since his accident