Jump to content

Fred "Sonic" Smith: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
→Influence: personal life
→Career: birth to early life
Line 44: Line 44:
| access-date = January 14, 2011}}</ref> At age 31, he married and raised a family with poet and fellow rock musician [[Patti Smith]]. The couple collaborated musically, and raised two children together.
| access-date = January 14, 2011}}</ref> At age 31, he married and raised a family with poet and fellow rock musician [[Patti Smith]]. The couple collaborated musically, and raised two children together.


== Career ==
===Early life==
Smith was born at his family's residence on Broad Branch in the Harts Creek area of [[Lincoln County, West Virginia]].<ref name="WVMHOF">{{Citation
| url = https://www.wvmusichalloffame.com/hof_sonic.html
| title = Fred "Sonic" Smith
| author=<!--Not stated-->
| date = 2018
| website = West Virginia Music Hall of Fame
| access-date = June 17, 2020}}</ref> He was deoivered by his ggrandfather in the home's kitchen during an electrical storm.<ref name="WVMHOF" />

= Career ==
Smith was a guitarist with the [[MC5]] and later went on to form [[Sonic's Rendezvous Band]], which released one single, "City Slang", during Smith's lifetime.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sonicsrendezvousband.net/band.html |title=Lost and found: a short history |access-date=August 3, 2008 |last=Shimamoto |first=Ken |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080802111717/http://www.sonicsrendezvousband.net/band.html |archive-date=August 2, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1988 he collaborated with [[Patti Smith]] on her album ''[[Dream of Life]]''.
Smith was a guitarist with the [[MC5]] and later went on to form [[Sonic's Rendezvous Band]], which released one single, "City Slang", during Smith's lifetime.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sonicsrendezvousband.net/band.html |title=Lost and found: a short history |access-date=August 3, 2008 |last=Shimamoto |first=Ken |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080802111717/http://www.sonicsrendezvousband.net/band.html |archive-date=August 2, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1988 he collaborated with [[Patti Smith]] on her album ''[[Dream of Life]]''.


Revision as of 02:18, 23 January 2024

Fred "Sonic" Smith
Background information
Birth nameFrederick Dewey Smith
Born(1948-09-14)September 14, 1948
West Virginia, U.S.
DiedNovember 4, 1994(1994-11-04) (aged 46)
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Genres
Occupations
  • Musician
  • songwriter
Instruments
  • Guitar
  • bass
Years active1964–1988
Websitesonicsrendezvousband.net

Frederick Dewey Smith (September 14, 1948[1][a] – November 4, 1994), known professionally as Fred "Sonic" Smith, was an American guitarist, best known as a member of the influential Detroit rock band MC5.[3] At age 31, he married and raised a family with poet and fellow rock musician Patti Smith. The couple collaborated musically, and raised two children together.

=Early life

Smith was born at his family's residence on Broad Branch in the Harts Creek area of Lincoln County, West Virginia.[4] He was deoivered by his ggrandfather in the home's kitchen during an electrical storm.[4]

Career =

Smith was a guitarist with the MC5 and later went on to form Sonic's Rendezvous Band, which released one single, "City Slang", during Smith's lifetime.[5] In 1988 he collaborated with Patti Smith on her album Dream of Life.

In 2018, Smith was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame[4] alongside Hasil Adkins and Ann Magnuson.[6]

Influence

In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Smith #93 in its list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.[7]

Patti Smith has spoken of how Fred Smith encouraged her writing, crediting his influence on a number of the songs she released after his death, as well as the prose works she created during their time together in Michigan. He was the inspiration for her song "Frederick",[8] a single from her 1979 album Wave. Her 1996 album Gone Again features several songs inspired by, co-written by, or in tribute to, her late husband.

The band Sonic Youth took its name from Smith's nickname.[9]

Inducted into West Virginia Music Hall of Fame 2018. Award given by Lenny Kaye accepted by Patti Smith, Jesse Smith and Jackson Smith.[10]

Personal life

Smith was born on Broad Branch in the Harts Creek area of Lincoln County, West Virginia.[4] He was born in his family's kitchen during an electrical storm, delivered by his grandfather.[4] Smith married Sigrid Dobat. They had a baby who died of SIDS.

He and his band opened a show for singer and poet Patti Smith.[8] Patti Smith's guitarist, Lenny Kaye, introduced Fred and Patti before the show. Fred was still married to Dobat when he and Patti Smith began an affair. The two subsequently married in 1980.[8]

The Smiths had two children together, a son, Jackson (born 1982) and a daughter, Jesse (born 1987). Jackson, a guitarist, was married to Meg White (formerly of indie band The White Stripes).[11] Jesse is a pianist. Both have performed on stage with their mother along with other members of the Patti Smith Group.

A resident of St. Clair Shores, Michigan (a Detroit suburb), Fred Smith died in Detroit in 1994. He had been in poor health for years and succumbed to heart failure.[3]

Musical equipment

Guitars
Amplification

Notes

  1. ^ Some sources show 1949 as Smith's year of birth.[2]

References

  1. ^ "The MC5". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
  2. ^ Deming, Mark. "Fred "Sonic" Smith". Allmusic. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
  3. ^ a b Strauss, Neil (November 9, 1994), "Fred (Sonic) Smith, 44, Guitarist With Rock Bands of 3 Decades", The New York Times, retrieved January 14, 2011
  4. ^ a b c d e "Fred "Sonic" Smith", West Virginia Music Hall of Fame, 2018, retrieved June 17, 2020
  5. ^ Shimamoto, Ken. "Lost and found: a short history". Archived from the original on August 2, 2008. Retrieved August 3, 2008.
  6. ^ "Hall of Fame Inductees, Class of 2018", West Virginia Music Hall of Fame Inductees, Class of 2018, 2018, retrieved June 17, 2020
  7. ^ "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Rolling Stone. September 18, 2003. Archived from the original on June 10, 2008. Retrieved May 2, 2009.
  8. ^ a b c McLeese, Don (2005). Kick out the Jams. Continuum International Publishing Group. pp. 113. ISBN 978-0-8264-1660-5.
  9. ^ Azerrad, Michael (2001). Our Band Could Be Your Life. New York: Little, Brown. p. 236. ISBN 0-316-78753-1.
  10. ^ "Fred "Sonic" Smith". Wvmusichalloffame.com. Retrieved August 5, 2020.
  11. ^ "White Stripes drummer ties knot". BBC. May 27, 2009. Retrieved October 15, 2012.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Fred_%22Sonic%22_Smith&oldid=1198125088"