Greedy Smith

Greedy Smith is the pseudonym of Andrew McArthur Smith^[1] or Andy Smith (born 16 January 1956, Sydney), who is a vocalist, keyboardist, harmonicist and songwriter with Australian pop/new wave band Mental As Anything.^[2] Smith wrote many of their hit songs including "Live it Up"^[1] which peaked at No. 2 on the Australian singles chart.^[3][4] Smith has a solo music career, he has worked with other bands and is also an artist and television personality.^[2]

Early life

Born Andrew McArthur Smith in Sydney, Australia on 16 January 1956, he later attended North Sydney Boys High in the same year group as future Australian cricket captain Allan Border. Showing an interest in Art he moved on to the East Sydney Technical College (now known as the National Art School) in Darlinghurst in the mid-1970s while also holding down a part-time job as a bottle shop attendant. At college he met fellow students, Martin Murphy, Chris O'Doherty, David Twohill and Steve Coburn, whose band, Mental As Anything, had been playing art school parties and dances since May 1976.^[2] While playing harmonica in another band at the time, Smith started appearing on stage with Mental As Anything from around December.^[2] He was eventually cajoled fellow Mental As Anything members to learn keyboards on an old wedding reception organ to fill in their sound and he quit his other band.

Art career

All early members of Mental As Anything are also artists and have exhibited their artworks since 1982.^[2] Although Smith is not as well known an artist as Reg Mombassa,^[2] his best known artwork is from his Storm Clouds Over the Piazza series that was exhibited at the Mentals III travelling art exhibition in 1997. These portraits are based on his legendary unfinished novel of the same name, a rambling WWII saga that he used to mention in interviews but is actually fictional in itself.

Nickname

Smith acquired the nickname Greedy around 1978 or 1979 when before a Mental As Anything show he demolished the better part of a bucket of KFC prior to going on stage. He was however still billed as Andy Smith on a promotional photo from early 1979.

Mental As Anything

Solo and side projects

In 1982, Smith played with Twohill in a group called The Space Shuttle Ramblers that recorded an EP, however the tapes were destroyed in a studio flood prior to release. In 1992, during the Mental As Anything sabbatical he formed a side group called Greedy's on the Loose that played gigs and recorded however no product was released. In 1996 he recorded a solo album Love Harmonica for TWA in his home studio, this led to live work with a band dubbed Greedy's People and the re-recording in full band mode and subsequent re-release of the album. This new version of the album also on TWA, retitled Greedy's People, included a bonus recording of The Carpenters' Close to You. Rock historian, Ian McFarlane, described Love Harmonica as an album of "easy-listening love songs that featured latin, pop and jazz rhythms with lush harmonica as the lead instrument."^[2]

Media work

As the most gregarious member of Mental As Anything, in the early days he was often relied upon to give interviews for TV, radio and press. This led to further media opportunities such as hosting episodes and segments of the music shows Countdown, including the associated Countdown Awards, and Sounds. In the late 1980s he was often a judge on the "Red Faces" segment of Hey Hey It's Saturday and in the early 1990s he hosted Tonight Live With Steve Vizard for a week in the absence of the regular host. He has more recently appeared regularly on the music quiz show Spicks and Specks.

Discography

Solo

Albums

• Love Harmonica – TWA (September 1996)

Singles

• "Time Heals All Wounds" – TWA (September 1996)
• "Always Thinking of You" – TWA (February 1997)

Greedy's People

• Greedy's People – TWA (1997)

References

External links

• Official Greedy Smith website
• Greedy Smith at the Internet Movie Database