Jump to content
Main menu
Main menu
move to sidebar
hide
Navigation
Main page
Recent changes
Random page
Help about MediaWiki
Special pages
Niidae Wiki
Search
Search
Appearance
Create account
Log in
Personal tools
Create account
Log in
Pages for logged out editors
learn more
Contributions
Talk
Editing
Robert Smith (musician)
(section)
Page
Discussion
English
Read
Edit
View history
Tools
Tools
move to sidebar
hide
Actions
Read
Edit
View history
General
What links here
Related changes
Page information
Appearance
move to sidebar
hide
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==Personal life== ===Marriage=== Smith met Mary Theresa Poole in drama class at St Wilfrid's when they were both around 14 years old,<ref name="Smash Hits, May 1986"/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/love-story-the-cures-disintegration-and-robert-smiths-romance-30-years-later-153827829.html |title='Love' story: The Cure's 'Disintegration' and Robert Smith's romance, 30 years later |first=Lyndsey |last=Parker |work=Yahoo Music |date=2 May 2019 |access-date=10 May 2020}}</ref> and they were married at [[Worth Abbey]] on 13 August 1988.<ref>''Crawley and District Observer'' Wednesday 24 August 1988, page 17</ref> They have 25 nieces and nephews<ref name="CM"/> but have remained [[Voluntary childlessness|voluntarily childless]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/robert-smith--what-becomes-of-the-brokenhearted-997591.html |title=Robert Smith β What becomes of the broken-hearted? |first=Andy |last=Gill |date=7 November 2008 |work=[[The Independent]]}}</ref> with Smith espousing the [[antinatalism|antinatalist]] view that he not only objects to having been born himself but refuses to impose life on another.<ref name="CM">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.contactmusic.com/news-article/robert-smith-happy-without-children |title=Robert Smith Happy Without Children |author=WENN |date=23 July 2004 |magazine=Contactmusic.com}}</ref><ref name="Pattison">{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/sep/10/robert-smith-the-cure-bestival |title=The Cure's Robert Smith: "I'm uncomfortable with politicised musicians" |first=Louis |last=Pattison |date=10 September 2011 |work=The Guardian}}</ref> He also "does not feel responsible enough to bring a child into the world".<ref name="CM"/> Smith has said that Mary did not always share his confidence and vision for the Cure's future early in his musical career, which he used as significant motivation to ensure the band was successful.<ref name="Lime Lizard, March 1991">Collins, Britt. "An interview with Robert Smith", ''Lime Lizard'', March 1991.</ref> It has been reported by the ''[[Daily Express]]'' that she used to be a model and worked as a nurse with intellectually disabled children, but gave up her job so that the couple would not have to spend so much time apart as the Cure became more financially successful during the mid-1980s.<ref name="Lime Lizard, March 1991"/><ref name="Perfect Cure">{{cite magazine |first=David |last=Wigg |title=The Perfect Cure! |newspaper=[[Daily Express]] |date=26 May 1986}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=New Wave β romantiek op de Orient Express" (New Wave romance on the Orient Express |newspaper=Hit Krant |date=July 1986 |language=de}}</ref> He told ''[[The Face (magazine)|The Face]]'' in 1985 that he had once accidentally left a video camera running in their home: "After a couple of hours you forget that it's on and I was quite horrified at the amount of rubbish we say to each other. It's like listening to mental people [...] I feel more natural in the company of people who are mentally unbalanced because you're always more alert, wondering what they're going to do next." He added that Mary used to dress as a witch to scare children, that she sometimes dressed up as him, and that he could never take people home as he did not know "who [would] answer the door".<ref>{{cite magazine |title=A Suitable Case for Treatment |magazine=[[The Face (magazine)|The Face]] |date=October 1985}}</ref> While the Cure was recording ''[[Wish (The Cure album)|Wish]]'' at [[The Manor Studio|Shipton Manor]] between 1991 and 1992, among the objects pinned to the wall was "Mary's Manor Mad Chart", listing 17 members of the Manor's staff and residents (including the Cure and their entourage) "in order of instability". Mary was ranked in second place after a kitchen worker named Louise. Smith said of this time, "We all voted and we had an award night. It was very moving."<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Miranda |last=Sawyer |title=Strange Days |magazine=[[Q (magazine)|Q]] |date=May 1992}}</ref> ===Family=== Smith has an older brother named Richard, an older sister named Margaret, and a younger sister named Janet. He has said that he is significantly younger than Richard and Margaret because his mother "wasn't supposed to have" him: "And once [my parents] got me, they didn't like the idea of having an only child, so they had my sister. Which is good, because I would have hated not having a younger sister."<ref name="Revolution, September 1989"/> He has described Janet as a "piano prodigy"<ref name="Guitar Player, 1992"/> and "the family's musical genius" who was too shy to become a performer herself.<ref name="Revolution, September 1989"/> As well as participating in the Crawley Goat Band since around 1973, Janet played keyboards for [[I'm a Cult Hero|Cult Hero]] in 1979, to which Margaret contributed backing vocals.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.discogs.com/Cure-Seventeen-Seconds/release/493031 |title=Cure, The β Seventeen Seconds |date=25 April 2005 |publisher=Discogs.com |access-date=28 September 2014}}</ref><ref>Barbarian, L., Steve Sutherland and Robert Smith. ''Ten Imaginary Years'', (1988) Zomba Books; {{ISBN|0-946391-87-4}}</ref> Janet, together with Simon Gallup's then-girlfriend Carol (both dressed as schoolgirls) with real-life schoolboy band the Obtainers, sang backing vocals for Cult Hero at the [[Marquee Club]] as the opening act for [[The Passions (British band)|the Passions]] in March 1980.<ref>Thompson, Dave & Jo-Ann Greene. ''The Cure β A Visual Documentary'' (1988), Omnibus Press, p. 22; {{ISBN|0-7119-1387-0}}</ref> The Cure's in-house design company Parched Art created the album cover for the Cure's ''[[The Head on the Door]]'' using a manipulated photograph of Janet taken by the band's guitarist and album cover artist [[Pearl Thompson]].<ref>"Questions and Answers", ''Cure News 4'', January 1988</ref><ref>Butler, Daren, ''The Cure on Record'', (1995), Omnibus Press, p. 61; {{ISBN|0-7119-3867-9}}</ref> Janet had known Thompson since they were children,<ref>Tesseyre, Cecile. "The Cure", ''Paris Match'', August 1986.</ref> and the pair began dating during his early tenure as lead guitarist for Malice and the Easy Cure.<ref>Apter, Jeff. ''Never Enough: The Story of The Cure'', (2009), Omnibus Press, pg. 34; {{ISBN|978-1-84772-739-8}}</ref> During the mid-1980s, Janet gave up a professional career as a pianist to spend more time with Thompson and the Cure,<ref name="Perfect Cure" /> and the couple were married in March 1988, making Smith and Thompson brothers-in-law until the couple divorced in 2000.<ref>"Questions and Answers", ''Cure News 5'', May 1988</ref> Janet is also credited with having taught Smith's guitar technician [[Perry Bamonte]] to play piano while the band were recording ''[[Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me]]'', prior to Bamonte joining the group as keyboardist in 1990.<ref>Phillips, Shaun. "Making Up The Cure", ''[[Vox (magazine)|VOX]]'', November 1992</ref> According to Bamonte, "With the patience of a saint, she spent a month teaching me the rudiments of playing piano. Before this, I knew nothing."<ref>Apter, Jeff. ''Never Enough: The Story of The Cure'', (2009) Omnibus Press, p. 250; {{ISBN|978-1-84772-739-8}}</ref> During a concert at [[Tauron Arena KrakΓ³w]] on 20 October 2022, the Cure dedicated their song "I Can Never Say Goodbye" to Richard, who had recently died.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pearis |first=Bill|title=Watch The Cure debut new song "I Can Never Say Goodbye" in Poland |url=https://www.brooklynvegan.com/watch-the-cure-debut-new-song-i-can-never-say-goodbye-in-poland/ |access-date=2022-10-22 |website=BrooklynVegan |date=21 October 2022 |language=en}}</ref> ===Views=== Smith is uncomfortable giving interviews and talking to strangers, expressing a desire to avoid both where possible.<ref name="Pattison"/> He has multiple [[social media]] profiles, which he uses solely to share news about his work and prevent people from following accounts pretending to be him.<ref name="Pattison"/> In 2011, Smith described himself as "a [[Liberalism|liberal]] kind of guy," but "uncomfortable with politicised musicians".<ref name="Pattison"/> He told ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' in 2019, "I've always held what could be considered a [[socialist]] viewpoint on the world. I think [[Centre-right politics|right of centre]] is always wrong, and that's as political as I get in public."<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/cure-band-robert-smith-interview-40-live-893005/ |title=The Cure's Robert Smith Looks Back: 'I've Never Thought About Legacy' |last=Grow |first=Kory |date=2019-10-18 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US |access-date=2019-12-04}}</ref> He has openly expressed [[Republicanism in the United Kingdom|disdain for the British royal family]], lamenting how musicians he respects have accepted [[Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom|British honours]] while stating that he would rather "cut off [his] own hands",<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/video-robert-smiths-withering-putdown-monarchy-gone-viral-2481628|title=This video of Robert Smith's withering putdown of the monarchy has gone viral |first=Will| last=Lavin|work=[[NME]] |date=27 April 2019 |access-date=22 November 2022}}</ref> as well as sporting a "citizens, not subjects" slogan on his guitar during a tour in 2012 and 2013.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/reading-festival-richfield-avenue-reading-8100532.html |title=Reading Festival, Richfield Avenue, Reading | first=Simon |last=Price |work=[[The Independent]] |date=September 2012 |access-date=28 September 2014}}</ref>
Summary:
Please note that all contributions to Niidae Wiki may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see
Encyclopedia:Copyrights
for details).
Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Search
Search
Editing
Robert Smith (musician)
(section)
Add topic