Тим Смит: Cardiacs тобының музыканты және өнертапқышы

British musician and frontman of Cardiacs

Timothy Charles Smith (3 July 196121 July 2020) was an English musician, record producer and music video director. A singer, songwriter and multi instrumentalist, Smith rose to prominence as the frontman of the rock band Cardiacs, which he co founded with his brother Jim. In addition to Cardiacs, Smith led, co led or contributed to The Sea Nymphs, Tim Smith's Extra Special OceanLandWorld and Spratleys Japs. Recognised for the particular complexity, skill and idiosyncrasies of his songs and music, Smith was honoured with the Doctor of Music degree from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2018, two years before his death in 2020. Smith was also a producer of records or promotional videos for acts including Oceansize, Sepultura, Dark Star, The Frank and Walters, Sidi Bou Said, Eat, The Scaramanga Six and erstwhile Wildhearts frontman Ginger.

Smith was born on 3 July 1961 in Carshalton, Surrey, England. He and his older brother Jim acquired an interest in music around 1972 from their neighbourhood friend Geoff Shelton buying an electric guitar. 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, In an interview, Smith commented about his songs written at a young age:

blockquote|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.

At the age of 16, Smith formed a rock group, the Filth. Often misremembered as "Philip Pilf and the Filth", the group was established by Smith in 1977. 1980 saw Smith recording the first and only Cardiac Arrest album, The Obvious Identity. Smith decided to change the name of the band to Cardiacs in 1981. He helped record the band's first album, Toy World, in the same manner as the Cardiac Arrest album – on cassette tape – at a small basement studio known as Crow Studios.

The label Alphabet Business Concern was created in 1984. From then until 1999, Cardiacs released six studio albums, as well as a number of singles, EPs and live albums. Smith, his ex wife Sarah Smith, and William D. Drake were reunited as The Sea Nymphs, a "gentler" version of Cardiacs; they had recorded before in 1984 and released a cassette album, Mr and Mrs Smith and Mr Drake. Smith also performed with Jo Spratley in Spratleys Japs, who released their album Pony in 1999. In March 2006, Smith toured with Ginger & The Sonic Circus as their support act, performing acoustic versions of Cardiacs' songs, along with his own material. Cardiacs released their only single of the 2000s, "Ditzy Scene", in 2007.

On 25 June 2008, 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." Smith's heart attack had triggered a major stroke and an episode of cerebral anoxia Cardiacs went on an indefinite hiatus following his hospitalisation, leaving the "LSD" album unfinished. 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. 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. 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. 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.

Smith died on the evening of 21 July 2020 at the age of 59, following another heart attack. His death was announced by his brother and bandmate Jim Smith and bandmate Kavus Torabi. Musicians including Steven Wilson, Mike Patton, Graham Coxon and Dave Rowntree 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. 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. Smith created and/or edited pop videos for various bands including Sepultura, Dark Star, Zu and The Frank and Walters, as well as Cardiacs. 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.