Adrian Smith

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under Adrian Smith (disambiguation) .

Adrian Smith performing live with Iron Maiden in 2010

Adrian Frederik "H" Smith (born February 27, 1957 in Hackney , East London , England ) is a British rock musician and one of the three guitarists of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden .

Career

Before he joined Iron Maiden in 1980 and replaced the guitarist Dennis Stratton there , he played in the band Urchin . During this time he wrote the basics of one of his most famous songs, 22 Acacia Avenue .

Iron Maiden

When the position of second guitarist at Iron Maiden became vacant in late 1980, Adrian's friend Dave Murray , also at Iron Maiden, suggested him to Steve Harris . While Smith appeared rather cautious on the second Maiden album Killers , his piece 22 Acacia Avenue on the number one album The Number Of The Beast became a classic of the heavy metal genre. On the following albums Smith showed himself as a guitarist and songwriter and earned a reputation in the scene. Among his best-known compositions include the time Flight Of Icarus , 2 Minutes to Midnight , Wasted Years , Stranger In A Strange Country , Can I Play With Madness and The Evil That Men Do . On the album Somewhere In Time , in particular , he achieved numerous varied solos. At that time he also demonstrated with Iron Maiden that he can sing. On the single B-side of Wasted Years he sings the track Reach Out, which originally comes from the joint music project of Nicko McBrain and Smith, The Entire Population of Hackney. When drummer Nicko McBrain rented a recording studio after the 1985 World Slavery Tour , he invited Smith and some of his former bandmates from his time with Urchin to record a few songs. The result was the short-lived project Entire Population Of Hackney (Eng: "The entire population of Hackney "). The songs That Girl and Juanita from the single Stranger In A Strange Land are also from this project, but were sung by Bruce Dickinson.

Resigns from Iron Maiden

When Steve Harris asked him in 1989 during the recording sessions for the new album No Prayer For The Dying to "give 100% for the band or go," he hesitated. Harris understood this as a declaration of leaving the band. When the new guitarist Janick Gers tried to convince him to return to the band, Smith had already come to terms with it and refused. His last composition for the time being, which he wrote for Iron Maiden with singer Bruce Dickinson, was the title Hooks In You on the album No Prayer For The Dying .

Before leaving Iron Maiden, Smith decided to start a new band under his leadership - Adrian Smith And Project (ASAP). He continued the development of Entire Population Of Hackney [from which again several songs were used as single B-sides of the album Silver and Gold ] and played more melodic hard rock than heavy metal. When the project failed, he first founded the band The Untouchable in 1992 , from which Psycho Motel emerged in the later 1990s and with which he released two albums. In 1997 he accepted the offer of singer Bruce Dickinson , who had also dropped out of Iron Maiden , to play a few guitar solos on his solo album Accident Of Birth . This led to the fact that he was an integral part of Bruce Dickinsons band together with members of the band Tribe of Gypsies until 1999 and played on the following albums The Chemical Wedding and Scream For Me Brazil . In 1999 Dickinson finally returned to Iron Maiden and Steve Harris obtained permission from Maiden manager Rod Smallwood to allow Adrian Smith to return. Since then, Iron Maiden has consisted of six members.

Back at Iron Maiden

Adrian Smith has since become an integral part of Iron Maiden again. On the first album since the reunification, Brave New World , the guitar riff of his composition The Wicker Man can be heard first. On Brave New World and the follow-up Dance Of Death , Smith is in the field of songwriting with the songs Paschendale and Journeyman . With his opening band Urchin Smith was also active as a singer and can be heard as a background for many songs at current concerts. Smith himself says that his guitar solos are also written from the perspective of a singer, which characterizes his melodic solo style.

literature

• Run To The Hills - The official biography of Iron Maiden by Mick Wall, translated by Klaas Ilse, 2005, ISBN 3-931624-29-3

Web links

Commons : Adrian Smith  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Official website of Iron Maiden (English)
• Adrian Smith at Allmusic
• Adrian Smith in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Article on Smith (accessed November 18, 2010)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Run To The Hills - The Official Biography of Iron Maiden , p. 122
2. ^ Biography of Bruce Dickinson , laut.de
3. ↑ Biography of Iron Maiden's official website (English)