Curt Smith (born 24 June 1961) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is best known as the co-lead vocalist, bassist, and co-founding member of the pop rock band Tears for Fears along with childhood friend Roland Orzabal. Smith has co-written several of the band's songs, and sings lead vocals on the hits "Mad World", "Pale Shelter", "Change", "The Way You Are", "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", and "Advice for the Young at Heart".
After his departure from Tears for Fears in 1991, Smith pursued a solo career and released his debut studio album, Soul on Board, in 1993. In total, he has released five studio albums and one EP, and has also dabbled in acting. He rejoined Tears for Fears in 2000.
Smith grew up in Bath, Somerset, and lived on the Snow Hill council estate. He attended the Beechen Cliff School.
Smith met Roland Orzabal when both were teenagers. They first formed a band in their teens, and Smith taught himself to play bass guitar. They next formed the ska-influenced band Graduate. Graduate released their sole studio album in 1980, achieving minor success in Europe. Around this time, Smith and Orzabal also became session musicians for the band Neon. Fellow band members included Pete Byrne and Rob Fisher, who went on to become the duo Naked Eyes.
After Graduate and Neon disbanded, Smith and Orzabal founded Tears for Fears in 1981. Smith is the band's bass player and co-lead vocalist. Their debut studio album, 1983's The Hurting, reached no. 1 in the UK and produced three international hit singles—"Mad World", "Change" and "Pale Shelter"—each with lead vocals performed by Smith.
The duo's second studio album Songs from the Big Chair (1985) hit number one in the United States and went multi-platinum. The album yielded hits including "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" (with Smith again on lead vocals), "Shout", and "Head Over Heels" (which Smith co-wrote).
The next Tears for Fears studio album, The Seeds of Love (1989), proved to be another international success. Smith's only lead vocal track on the album was "Advice for the Young at Heart". Increasing tensions between Smith and Orzabal prompted Smith to leave the band in 1991, and he moved to New York.
In 2000, routine legal paperwork obligations led to Orzabal and Smith's first conversation in nearly a decade. The two patched up their differences and, along with Smith's associate Charlton Pettus, began writing a new studio album—Everybody Loves a Happy Ending—released in 2004.
"Mad World" was re-recorded by Michael Andrews and Gary Jules for the soundtrack of the 2001 film Donnie Darko. A 2003 single release of the song reached number one in the UK for three consecutive weeks and won Orzabal his second Ivor Novello Award. The single re-ignited interest in the group's earlier work. Their 1992 Greatest Hits album was re-released and re-entered the UK Top 10 for several weeks, garnering its second UK platinum disc.
In 2021, Smith and Roland Orzabal were honoured with the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection.
The seventh Tears for Fears studio album (the fifth with Smith as a member), The Tipping Point, was released in February 2022.
After leaving Tears for Fears, Smith released his debut solo studio album, Soul on Board, in 1993. The album was unsuccessful in the UK, and was not released at all in the United States. Smith later claimed that he made the album purely to fulfill his recording contract with Mercury/Phonogram.
After moving to New York, Smith formed the band Mayfield with guitarist-producer Charlton Pettus. The band featured Russ Irwin and Doug Petty on keyboards, Smith himself on bass and vocals, and Shawn Pelton on drums. According to Smith, the name of the band was a play on words (Curt is Mayfield) based on the name of the legendary American soul singer Curtis Mayfield. The band was mostly a live act, but did release a self-titled studio album in 1998; it met with little success.
Smith later released the solo studio album Aeroplane under his own name. In the U.S., this was a six-track EP, but in Canada and elsewhere, it was essentially the earlier Mayfield album combined with additional songs from the U.S. EP.
In October 2011, Smith announced on his website that he would re-release the Mayfield album on 15 November 2011. The new release, on his KOOK Media label, would include a bonus version of the song "Trees" featuring Janice Whaley.
During 2000, Smith began work on what was to become Halfway, Pleased, but the project was put on hold when he began with Roland Orzabal again after almost a decade of silence. In 2006, Smith resumed work on Halfway, Pleased. The semi-autobiographical album explores Smith's relationships with his children, parents and friends. Smith finally released the album in the U.S. and the rest of the world in May 2008 via his own KOOK Media label.
Smith made limited live concert appearances in the Los Angeles area to support Halfway, Pleased. In January 2009, he announced that he would perform a weekly residency at The Standard Hollywood in West Hollywood, CA during the month of February 2009.
Smith's fourth solo studio album, Deceptively Heavy, was released on 16 July 2013.