Brent Smith
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Brent Smith | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 10, 1978 |
| Origin | Knoxville, Tennessee |
| Genre(s) | Hard Rock Post Grunge Alternative Metal Southern Rock |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals |
| Associated acts | Shinedown |
Brent Smith is the lead singer of the band Shinedown. Brent is known to have a wide vocal range and has claimed that he has never had any formal lessons or instructions. Brent also claims Otis Redding to be his biggest influence.
Contents |
[edit] Shinedown
[edit] Early years
On July 15, 2003, the band released their debut album Leave A Whisper. The album sold the popular singles "Fly From the Inside" and "45." Leave A Whisper was re-released on June 15, 2004, to capitalize on the strength of a new single: A cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man". This song is often dedicated to their friend Dimebag Darrell who died in 2004. The re-release also featured an acoustic version of "45", and a new mix of "Burning Bright", which was to be the fourth single from the album. During 2004, the band notably opened for Van Halen. On September 21, 2005, Leave A Whisper was certified as gold. On August 23, 2005, the band released a live DVD called Live From The Inside that contained a full-length Shinedown concert held at the House Of Blues in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
[edit] Us and Them
On October 4, 2005, the band released their second album called Us and Them, backed by the single "Save Me". Save Me maintained a #1 position on active rock charts for twelve weeks. I Dare You was performed on American Idol by Chris Daughtry. There are currently three versions of Us and Them: the regular thirteen-track version, a limited edition with three bonus acoustic tracks, and a store-specific edition with two bonus tracks: "Break" and "Carried Away". In 2006, the band co-headlined the SnoCore Tour with Seether, Flyleaf, and Halestorm, which was followed by the Equinox Tour in which Shinedown co-headlined with Trapt. Shinedown played their first overseas concert at the London Astoria on June 6, 2006, supporting Alter Bridge. In the late summer of 2006, the band opened for Godsmack and Rob Zombie on their North American Tour.
On December 12, 2006, Shinedown played in Knoxville, Tennessee at The Tennessee Theatre which was filmed for an upcoming DVD the band was expected to be releasing later this year (2007). However, after a recent show, Waukesha, WI, July 21, 2007, the band made it known that the DVD was scrapped by Atlantic Records. "We don't want to put anything out if the band is gonna be presented in the wrong way," Smith says. "I might be able to bootleg it later on ... but as of now I don't see it coming out."
[edit] The Sound Of Madness - 2008 Album
Shinedown has begun working on their third album, after playing several off-date shows in the Summer of 2007. The band began recording in Los Angeles on September 20th, 2007. Audio mixing for the new album has since been completed. The first single, "Devour" is now set to be released on May 5th. The supporting tour for the album will likely begin with the band playing several festival shows before the release of the new album (Confirmed to be titled "The Sound of Madness") on June 24th, 2008.
Shinedown will be playing at Rock on the Range on May 17th, 2008, at the Columbus Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. The band will also play at the 2008 Pointfest in the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater on May 18th, 2008, in St. Louis, Missouri. They will also be playing at WJJO Band Camp 2008 with other various bands.
Regarding the upcoming album, lead singer Brent Smith was quoted in an interview with Billboard.com as saying; "It's time to just go over the top, literally go above and beyond what a human being thinks they're capable of recording. We want to do a huge hard rock record that has a lot of crossover potential, but also some of the most insanely intense and heavy material that this band has ever tried - and see if we can pull it off." Smith noted that the group had more than forty songs to consider after writing sessions in Atlanta, Nashville and Los Angeles, but that they have narrowed the number down to a rumored eleven songs, which will appear on the album. The band played five "potential singles" from the new batch - "Sound of Madness", "Junkies for Fame", "The Crow and the Butterfly", "Second Chance", and "Devour" - on a short run of shows in the summer months of 2007. Other songs on the album include the band's first love ballad "If You Only Knew", a song that Smith said he had never intended to write, but was inspired to pen after discovering that his girlfriend was expecting their first child.
[edit] Collaborations
- He is featured on a song with hard rock band Saliva called "Don't Question My Heart", which is the ECW theme song.
- He is credited with co-writing the song "There and Back Again" on Chris Daughtry's self-titled debut album.[1]
- Brent sings the background vocals on Theory of a Deadman's single, So Happy
