Adrian Smith

Adrian Smith is the youngest of the three children born to his parents. He has an elder sister named Kathleen, and a brother named Patrick.

Adrian is married to Nathalie Dufresne Smith, a social worker of Canadian descent, at around the same time when he temporarily quit ‘Iron Maiden’.

The Couple is blessed with three kids named Dylan, Brittany, and Natasha.

Adrian was born on February 27, 1957 at Hackney County in East London. His original name is Adrian Frederick Smith. Adrian’s father was a painter and interior decorator. Smith was raised in Camden area of London.

Adrian’s interest turned towards music when he was hardly 15 years old. He started playing the guitar soon, after being inspired by the musician Dave Murray, who had become his close friend around this time.

In 1972 Adrian formed a band named ‘Urchin’ along with Dave Murray, John Hoye, who played the bass guitar, and various other drummers. The band performed several times at John Hoye’s school, and many local competitions. However, the band split eight years after its formation.

Even while he was busy with the assignments of ‘Urchin’, Adrian received an offer to be a part of the famous metal band named ‘Iron Maiden’ in 1979, which he refused.

Post the split of Urchin in 1980, Adrian was clueless about his future. Dave Murray, who was already a part of ‘Iron Maiden’ gave him an opportunity to join the popular band. ‘Iron Maiden’ was backed by the record label ‘EMI’ at the same time.

The band already had creative differences with their guitarist Dennis Stratton, and soon the latter was replaced by Adrian. After a few gigs with the band during a UK tour, Smith recorded for Iron Maiden’s second album ‘Killers’. The songs of this album, which released in 1981, topped the charts in various countries.

Other than just being a guitarist, Adrian has also co-written several songs such as ‘Gangland’, ‘The Prisoner’, and ‘22 Acacia Avenue’. He even collaborated with British musician Bruce Dickinson for penning Iron Maiden’s fourth album titled ‘Piece of Mind’, which released in 1983.

In 1989, Adrian kept himself busy with the band ‘ASAP’, which was an abbreviated form of ‘Adrian Smith And Project’. The decision of the ‘Iron Maiden’ band members to take a temporary break from their musical assignments led to this development. Adrian even released an album titled ‘Silver and Gold’, but the album failed to garner appreciation from the lovers of heavy metal music.

Though Adrian is credited with several independent musical achievements, he is best known for his work for the metal band ‘Iron Maiden’. Notable among these were his duets with friend and band mate Dave Murray such as ‘2 Minutes to Midnight’, ‘Rime of The Ancient Mariner’, and ‘Alexander the Great’.