(1946– ; b. Dawlish, England) English statistician. Smith obtained his first degree at Cambridge U in 1968 and his PhD (supervised by Lindley) from UCL in 1971. He held faculty appointments at Oxford U (1971), UCL (1974), U Nottingham (1977), and IC (1980) before his appointment as Principal of QMUL in 1988. President of the RSS in 1995, Smith had been awarded its Guy Medal in Bronze in 1977 and in Silver in 1993. He was elected FRS in 2001. He was the COPSSFisher Lecturer in 2003.
Representative Albums: "The Mental Dance," "McSmooth," "Asap/Silver & Gold"
Biography
While not an original member of Iron Maiden, guitarist Adrian Smith proved to be one of the missing pieces to the puzzle (singer Bruce Dickinson being the other) early on -- resulting in the band obtaining elite status among the metal masses soon after. Born on February 27, 1957, in Hackney (located in East London), Smith was captivated by such renowned hard rock guitarists as Jimi Hendrix and Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore early on, while his sister's boyfriend's record collection only intensified his appreciation of hard rock. It wasn't long before a school chum and guitarist, Dave Murray, convinced Smith that he should take up the guitar himself. Murray and Smith began to play together in bands, and with Smith's decision to pursue music full-time, he opted to drop out before graduation. Smith's first serious band, Evil Ways, eventually evolved into Urchin, a group that Murray would sometimes be a part of as well. But Murray's main focus was his other group, heavy metallists Iron Maiden, who were making quite a name for themselves locally during the late '70s. Smith was even asked to join Maiden at one point during this time, but opted to pass due to his commitments to Urchin.
Meanwhile, Maiden quickly became one of England's top metal outfits, as the band's 1980 debut, Iron Maiden, nearly topped the charts back home. With Urchin disintegrating, Smith had a change of mind, and finally agreed to join Maiden in time for the recording of the group's sophomore effort, 1981's Killers (supposedly beating out Phil Collen for the spot, who would soon turn up in Def Leppard). Automatically, Smith and Murray formed one of heavy metal's top '80s-era guitar duos, as they took Thin Lizzy's twin-guitar setup to a whole other level -- especially on such subsequent releases as 1982's classic Number of the Beast (which saw the arrival of singer Dickinson), 1983's Piece of Mind, 1984's Powerslave, 1986's Somewhere in Time, and 1988's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Smith also turned out to a valuable songwriter as well, as he completely wrote or co-penned such Maiden classics as "22 Acacia Avenue," "Flight of Icarus," "2 Minutes to Midnight," "Wasted Years," and "Can I Play With Madness," among others (Smith even sang lead on the Somewhere in Time-era B-side, "Reach Out").
However, by 1989 it was becoming increasingly obvious that Smith was growing disenchanted with Maiden, as he issued an obscure solo album, credited to A.S.A.P., titled Silver and Gold. Despite the album not exactly lighting up the charts, Smith exited Maiden in 1990, replaced by Janick Gers. Little was heard from Smith throughout the '90s, until he reappeared alongside Dickinson (who had followed Smith's lead and left Maiden) on the releases Accident at Birth (1997), Chemical Wedding (1998), and Scream for Me Brazil (1999). With Smith and Dickinson working together once more (and with Maiden's popularity sagging), the duo reunited with their old Maiden pals in 1999, resulting in further sold-out tours and new studio albums, including 2000's Brave New World and 2003's Dance of Death. The 21st century edition of Maiden is also one of the few in metal to include three guitarists -- Smith, Murray, and Gers. ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide
While at school, Adrian befriended Dave Murray and formed his first band Urchin as lead singer and lead guitarist. Adrian had bought his first guitar from Murray, a Woolworths' Top 20, for five quid (later he painted it silver and sold it again for 12 quid, as he states in the Early Days DVD). Murray left Urchin to join Iron Maiden, the new band of another local musician, Steve Harris. Smith continued to front Urchin, with limited success, until joining Maiden in early 1980 for the Killers album (released in 1981), replacing Dennis Stratton. Smith first wrote songs for Maiden on the 1982 album The Number of the Beast, and was the band's secondary songwriter from then on (often in co-operation with Bruce Dickinson). Smith and Dave Murray combined playing dual lead guitars helping to forge the trademark sound of Iron Maiden. Some notable lead duets are "The Duellists", "2 Minutes to Midnight", "The Trooper", "Alexander the Great" and "Rime of the Ancient Mariner". Notable solos include "Wasted Years", "Stranger in a Strange Land" and "The Wicker Man".
Adrian's solos are usually composed rather than improvised. His legato playing is very smooth and fast and typically even his very fast passages have a musical function and relationship to the chord structure behind the solo, drawing from modes and arpeggios which are more often from blues licks.
Smith released a solo LP with the band ASAP (Adrian Smith And Project) titled Silver and Gold in 1989. Following its release, Smith departed from Iron Maiden in 1990 when recordings for the No Prayer for the Dying album were about to start, and was replaced by Janick Gers. After releasing the experimental Somewhere in Time and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son albums, Steve Harris had decided to take the band back to a more traditional hard rock direction which can clearly be heard on the No Prayer for the Dying album. This album featured one last song co-penned by Adrian with Bruce Dickinson, "Hooks in You".
"When he left the band in 1990, I think everybody was a bit surprised at how much we missed him and certainly, I don’t think anybody had realized how much the fans would miss him - big time. I wouldn’t have rejoined Iron Maiden if he wasn’t in the band. I just don’t think it would have been complete without Adrian, and now, it’s great having three guitarists."
In 1996, Adrian joined forces with former Helloween vocalist, Michael Kiske on Kiske's solo album Instant Clarity. He plays guitar on a few tracks and co-wrote a few songs.
Later, Adrian formed his alternative rock-influenced band Psycho Motel. This band was a progression from an earlier music project of his, The Untouchables, which had featured some of the members from ASAP and Jamie Stewart (former bassist of the rock group The Cult). The band recorded two albums, State of Mind (1996) and Welcome to the World (1997). Smith would also play on Bruce Dickinson's Accident of Birth and The Chemical Wedding albums. The influence of this more progressive direction, as well as Adrian's heavier rhythm guitar playing, on Iron Maiden's own performances since he rejoined the band is clear.
On 22 August 1992 Smith made a brief appearance onstage with Maiden to play "Running Free" during the Castle Donington 'Monsters Of Rock' Festival.
In 1999, Smith re-joined Iron Maiden for the "Ed Hunter tour", a tour in support of the video game of the same name. Since then, Iron Maiden have released 3 studio albums, Brave New World in 2000, Dance of Death in 2003 and A Matter of Life and Death in 2006. He remains with the band to this day.
Personal life
In his spare time, Adrian loves fishing, as can be seen on the Rock In Rio DVD.
Adrian has a wife named Nathalie, and three children, son Dylan Smith (born in 1989) and twin daughters Natasha Smith and Brittany Smith (born in 1991).
Equipment
Guitars
Smith's current preferred guitar is his Jackson signature model Dinky, though he has used a variety of others over his career including several different Dean models, Jackson, Ibanez Destroyer, Gibson Les Pauls, a Gibson Explorer, Gibson SGs and Lado Guitars. On the A Matter of Life and Death DVD he says the first decent guitar he bought was a Gibson Les Paul Goldtop that cost him £235 when he was 17; he's still using it, and "it's still probably the best guitar I've got". He had to work on a building site all summer to pay for it. Until recently when he returned to Jackson, from the late '90's through to 'A Matter of Life and Death' he mainly used 3 Fender Floyd Rose Classic Stratocasters. These Stratocasters are all totally stock instruments and his original (and main one) feature the custom wound DiMarzio humbucker made specifically for Fender for this guitar in the bridge position, and a Floyd Rose locking tremolo system. His two others - a white one which has the stock Fender DH1 humbucker in the bridge position and a Schaller Floyd Rose II tremolo On, and the back up sunburst one used on the Dance of Death tour for dropped tunings also has the standard Fender DH1 humbucker but has a Floyd Rose original. Most of Adrians guitars recently have been H/S/S style Strats however he uses the bridge humbucker almost exclusively. Adrian uses gauge 9 strings (light top/heavy bottom) and has his action set slightly higher than average. Contrary to common belief, Adrian does not use the Seymour Duncan JB Junior pickup, which is favoured by fellow Iron Maiden guitarist Janick Gers. For his solo work with Bruce Dickinson he has used (at least live) a Jackson King V guitar tuned down to D, this guitar was custom made and has a reinforced neck which has steel and carbon fibre rods either side of the truss rod as he was using heavy gauge strings (low A and E strings were Bass strings) providing a darker and heavier sound. He has also used this setup on occasion after re-joining Iron Maiden. In the booklet of their album A Matter of Life and Death, Adrian is shown with a custom double-neck Jackson Soloist. Smith used the guitar, a 6/12 string, for the song "Children of the Damned" during Iron Maiden's 2007 tour. As of August 2007, Adrian Smith is endorsing Jackson guitars, his first guitar company endorsement in over fifteen years. The latest is the Adrian Smith San Dimas Dinky.[1]
Three Fender American Floyd Rose Classic Stratocasters (two sunburst the second being used as a backup instrument) equipped with an original Floyd Rose double-locking tremolo system his main one is an early one and featurs a custom wound DiMarziohumbucking pickup and the other, which is a later model with the Fender DH1 humbucker. 1 white one which, production wise falls between the two sunburst models, this one has a Schaller Floyd Rose II and the Fender DH1 humbucker in the bridge. the mid and neck single coils on all guitars are also the stock pickups.
Two GibsonSGs (the second is normally used as a backup guitar).
Adrian has around 30 guitars in his collection. This is the list of guitars which can be seen on various pictures;
Jackson Adrian Smith San Dimas Dinky guitars
At least seven Jackson/Charvel custom Stratocasters/Superstrats, one of them with integrated MIDI systems
At least four custom Lados (two Lado Earths, one Lazer with MIDI system, and a Lado custom Strat)
At least four Fender Stratocasters
At least three Gibson Les Pauls
At least five Gibson SGs
Ibanez Destroyer II
Ibanez Roadstar
Dean Baby ML
Roland G-707 MIDI guitar
At least two ESP Mirages
Hamer Standard
Squier Telecaster
Jackson custom doubleneck Soloist
Jackson KV2
Ovation acoustic guitar
Taylor acoustic guitar
Woolworths Top 20
Specifications
For Jackson Adrian Smith San Dimas Dinky with white scratch plate (Main guitar):
custom wound DiMarzio and Fender DH1 humbuckers(bridge)
For the Gibson SG:
Ernie Ball Strings (.009, - .046)
Tuning: Drop-D (low to high: D A D G B E)
Stock Pickups
For the Gibson Les Paul Deluxe Goldtop:
Tuning: It's changing. On his early tours, Powerslave tour and Chemmical Wedding tour was this guitar tuned standard. On Accident Of Birth and Somewhere Back In Time tour 2009 was this guitar tuned to Drop-D tuning.