Editing Robert Smith (musician) (section)

====As singer and frontman====
Smith did not intend to become the lead vocalist of the Cure. Bowler and Dray note that the Obelisk had "featured Dempsey and Ceccagno as guitarists and him [Robert] on piano as very much a background player."<ref name="Bowler & Dray, p. 10">Bowler, Dave, and Bryan Dray, ''The Cure – Faith'', (1995), Sidgwick & Jackson, p. 10; {{ISBN|0-283-06229-0}}</ref> As the Group gradually became Malice and began regular rehearsals in January 1976, Smith was still one of several floating members.<ref name="Bowler & Dray, p. 10"/><ref>Membership "used to fluctuate between five and fifteen" people according to Smith.</ref> Of their first "proper" rehearsal at St Edwards Church, Smith said:

{{blockquote|I think it all came about because Marc Ceccagno wanted to be a guitar hero. Michael had a bass, I had got hold of a guitar and our first drummer, Graham, had a drum kit. His brother had an amp and a mic, so he sang.<ref>Apter, Jeff, ''Never Enough: The Story of The Cure'', (2009) Omnibus Press, p. 33; {{ISBN|978-1-84772-739-8}}</ref>}}

By December 1976, Graham's brother had been replaced by vocalist Martin Creasy, a journalist with ''[[Crawley#Media|The Crawley Observer]]'', whose brief tenure with the group was a live débâcle according to those involved.<ref name="Barbarian, Sutherland & Smith">Barbarian, L., Steve Sutherland & Robert Smith, ''Ten Imaginary Years'', (1988), Zomba Books; {{ISBN|0-946391-87-4}}</ref> By January 1977 Malice had changed their name to Easy Cure,<ref name="Thompson & Greene, p. 6">Thompson, Dave & Jo-Ann Greene. ''The Cure – A Visual Documentary'', (1988), Omnibus Press, p. 6; {{ISBN|0-7119-1387-0}}</ref> partly to distance themselves from these earlier shows. Both drummer Lol Tolhurst and bassist Mick Dempsey are also noted as having performed vocals with the group in the early years. Tolhurst also sang on a cover of "[[Wild Thing (The Troggs song)|Wild Thing]]" at Malice's early shows,<ref>Thompson, Dave & Jo-Ann Greene. ''The Cure – A Visual Documentary'' (1988), Omnibus Press, p. 6; {{ISBN|0-7119-1387-0}})</ref> and Dempsey sang backing vocals on songs like "Killing An Arab", and even recorded lead vocals on one track on the Cure's debut album, their cover of Hendrix's "Foxy Lady".<ref>''Cure News 5'', May 1988.</ref><ref>''Cure News 11'', October 1991</ref> During March 1977, a vocalist named Gary X came and went, and was replaced by Peter O'Toole, described as "a demon footballer and Bowie fan" who made his singing debut in April.<ref name="Barbarian, Sutherland & Smith"/> O'Toole remained Easy Cure's steady front man for several months while the group played the local pub circuit, "building up an enormous local following", and was even the singer on the home demo tapes that landed them their first recording contract with [[Hansa Records]].<ref name="Thompson & Greene, p. 6"/>

However, by the time Easy Cure entered London's Sound And Vision Studio to record for Hansa in October 1977, O'Toole had left to work on a [[Kibbutz]] in Israel.<ref name="Barbarian, Sutherland & Smith"/> Smith then fell into the vocalist role by default, since no better replacement appeared. He told ''[[Musician (magazine)|Musician]]'' magazine in 1989: {{Blockquote|When we started, and were playing in pubs, I wasn't the singer ... I was the drunk rhythm guitarist who wrote all these weird songs. We went through about five different singers – they were fucking useless, basically. I always ended up thinking, 'I could do better than this.' ... I mean, I hated my voice, but I didn't hate it more than I hated everyone else's voice ... So I thought, 'If I can get away with that, I can be the singer.' I've worked on that basis ever since.<ref>Considine, J. D., "What's The Big Idea? Robert Smith's Conception of the Cure", ''[[Musician (magazine)|Musician]]'', 1989.</ref>}}

On 14 October 2024, Smith announced that he plans on retiring in 2029. "I’m 70 in 2029, and that’s the 50th anniversary of the first Cure album [''[[Three Imaginary Boys]]'']. If I make it that far, that’s it. In the intervening time, I’d like to include playing concerts as part of the overall plan of what we’re going to do. I’ve loved it; the last 10 years of playing shows have been the best 10 years of being in the band. It pisses all over the other 30-odd years! It’s been great" Smith said.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Fu|first1=Eddie |title=The Cure Will Retire After 50th Anniversary of Debut Album in 2029 |url=https://consequence.net/2024/10/the-cure-retire-50th-anniversary |website=Consequence |access-date=14 October 2024 |date=14 October 2024}}</ref>