Martin-Smith entered the entertainment industry in the early 1980s working as a casting agent from offices in Manchester's Royal Exchange.
In 1989, Martin-Smith sought to create a British male vocal singing group, a campaign to audition men who could sing and dance, led to auditions in Manchester, where Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Robbie Williams, Howard Donald and Jason Orange were selected to form the group ‘Kick-It’ who then changed their name to Take That.
[2] Take That's dance-oriented pop tunes and ballads dominated the UK charts in the first half of the 1990s, spawning two of the best selling albums of the decade with Everything Changes in 1993 and their Greatest Hits in 1996.
[3] After his departure, the third Take That album Nobody Else was re-issued in some markets excluding some vocals by Williams, most notably a new recording of "Love Ain't Here Anymore".
[7][8] However, since promotional copies of the album had already been dispatched to the media and the lyrics had been made public knowledge, Martin-Smith proceeded with his lawsuit against Williams and EMI and won £300,000 in the High Court for defamation of character.
Around this time, Martin-Smith made a huge investment in his Manchester-based talent agencies moving into purpose-built studios and offices and employing leading agents to oversee his roster of artistes.
The NMSM Talent Group now incorporates: Nemesis Agency (of which Martin-Smith was the sole director) was sold in a pre-pack deal after entering administration in June 2013.
[13][14] In 2005, Martin-Smith was contracted to work on the re-launch of Take That which saw him co-produce a TV documentary about the group, manage the release of their Ultimate Collection compilation album, and launch their sell-out UK tour.
The band was initially called ASBRO, a play on words related to an ASBO (Anti Social Behaviour Order), and were described by Danny McFadden in The Guardian as the new East 17.