Robert James Smith (born 21 April 1959) is an English musician who is the co-founder, lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter, and only continuous member of the Cure, a post punk rock band formed in 1976.

[22] Smith has said that he was expelled from St Wilfrid's as an "undesirable influence" after his band Malice's second live performance shortly before Christmas in 1976, which took place at the school and allegedly caused a riot: "I got taken back [in 1977] but they never acknowledged that I was there [...] I did three A levels—failed biology miserably, scraped through French, and got a 'B' in English.

[41] Following his return from the Banshees' tour, Smith also composed most of the music for the album Seventeen Seconds using the Hammond, a drum machine and his trademark Top 20 Woolworth's guitar, during a home demo session in his parents' basement.

Dempsey's replacement Simon Gallup described the collective writing process to Sounds in 1980: When we play new songs live Robert ad libs [vocals] a lot until he gets the feel of it.

[43][52] Determined not to let the tour end, Smith volunteered to replace McKay temporarily on condition that the Cure remained the opening act,[52] while ex-Slits drummer Budgie joined on drums.

On 3 and 4 April 1980 at the Rainbow Theatre in London, Robert Smith and Matthieu Hartley (also of the Magspies, Cult Hero and by this time, the Cure) were among the many guest members of a unique line-up of the Stranglers to play two protest concerts for Hugh Cornwell, who had been imprisoned on drugs charges in late 1979.

To test the idea, Smith and Severin recorded a reworking of the Cure's "Siamese Twins", with Tolhurst on drums, and Anne Stephenson and Virginia Hewes (later known as Ginni Ball) of the Venomettes on violins, which was performed on BBC Two's music programme Riverside in March 1983, featuring two dancers choreographed by Dixon.

According to the Banshees' authorised biography, "Dear Prudence" had been recorded at Smith's insistence to document his time with the group, and it became their biggest UK hit, reaching number 3 on the Singles Chart.

[84] Meanwhile, both the Glove's second single, "Punish Me with Kisses", and the Banshees' live double album and companion video, Nocturne from the Royal Albert Hall shows, appeared in November.

This was followed by "Dazzle" in May, and finally the album Hyæna in June – Smith having left the Banshees the month prior to release, citing health issues due to his overloaded schedule.

Earlier versions of the song had already been recorded by the band, but Plati and Smith completely reconstructed the track, built around a sampled drum loop by Cure drummer Jason Cooper.

[108] The following month, Smith was again recording solo between RAK and Outside studios, assisted this time by co-producer Paul Corkett, whose production credits included Nick Cave, Björk, Placebo, Tori Amos and Suede.

Having made a guest appearance on an episode of South Park earlier in the year, Smith again collaborated with Trey Parker under the name COGASM, featuring Reeves Gabrels and Jason Cooper, releasing the track "A Sign from God" for the film Orgazmo.

Robert Smith)" for Dutch electronic music producer Junkie XL's album Radio JXL: A Broadcast from the Computer Hell Cabin, released in June 2003;[110] "All of This (feat.

[120] "Truth Is (Featuring – Robert Smith)" appeared on former Nine Inch Nails drummer and co-founder Chris Vrenna's second Tweaker album 2 a.m. Wakeup Call, released 20 April 2004.

[127] In November 2006, Robert appeared on UK trance and trip hop act Faithless's album To All New Arrivals, on the track "Spiders, Crocodiles & Kryptonite", featuring prominent samples of the Cure's "Lullaby", for which Smith recorded a new performance of the original vocal.

[130] Placebo's Steve Hewitt meanwhile announced plans to launch a solo dance/drum'n'bass-influenced album under the working title of Ancient B to feature Smith singing some tracks, and bassist Jon Thorne of Lamb.

"[152] Ian Birch of Melody Maker recognised the Banshees' influence on Smith's band early on, comparing the Cure's 1978 debut single "Killing An Arab" favourably to Siouxsie's "Hong Kong Garden" (released a few months earlier).

[173] The Cure's keyboardist Roger O'Donnell has since said that during recording of the Disintegration album (1988–89), Burton approached the group about providing the soundtrack to the 1990 film Edward Scissorhands, and even sent them the script.

[177][178][179] In 1996, Smith confirmed to French magazine Télérama that Burton had approached the Cure about a number of collaborations, and regularly kept in touch with the group about each of his latest film projects, but that they had thus far always been too busy either touring or recording to contribute.

[181] In 2009 Burton presented Smith with the Shockwaves NME Godlike Genius Award, saying that when he was "chained to a desk" and "fucking depressed" during his time as a young animator for Disney, "this music was the only thing that saved me.

[184] Mike Dringenberg, on the other hand, compared Kieth's Sandman to Ron Wood and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, and asserts "my version ... was more like Peter Murphy or Robert Smith.

"[185] Conversely, Kelley Jones, who illustrated the Dream Country and Season of Mists (volumes 3 & 4 in the series), said he "just hated the Cure" and thus based his own version of the character on the angular gestures and facial features of Bauhaus front-man Peter Murphy instead.

[91] Smith's lyrics, as well as those of Joy Division's Ian Curtis, were quoted and referenced extensively throughout James O'Barr's comic book series The Crow, which, like Gaiman's Sandman, also first appeared on shelves in 1989.

[193] Gothic horror and fantasy writer Poppy Z. Brite, in his vampire novel Lost Souls (1992), uses a poster of Robert Smith on a bedroom wall as a sexual prop during a homoerotic encounter between two of his characters, Laine and Nothing.

[195] The Mary Whitehouse Experience (1992) poked fun at Smith's attempts to use lighter pop music to "show his happier side", by presenting a series of sketches in which Smith (played by Rob Newman) performs comedic novelty songs "The Laughing Policeman", "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport", "Ernie", "Crash Bang Wallop", the theme to the children's programme Play Away, and the WWI soldiers' "Chinese crackers in your arsehole" parody version of the patriotic anthem "Rule, Britannia!".

[196] Another sketch on The Mary Whitehouse Experience revolved around "Ray: a man afflicted with a sarcastic tone of voice", also portrayed by Newman, and presented in the style of a medical case history.

[205]Interviewed by Placebo's Brian Molko for Les Inrockuptibles magazine, Smith said that South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone sent him the script, but deliberately left some portions blank "to keep the surprise".

Asked by NME.com backstage after the ceremony if there were any plans for more pop-star cameos in The Mighty Boosh, series co-creator and co-star Noel Fielding replied, "We're trying to get hold of Robert Smith for the film – I want him to be my uncle.

[220][221] Janet, together with Simon Gallup's then-girlfriend Carol (both dressed as schoolgirls) with real-life schoolboy band the Obtainers, sang backing vocals for Cult Hero at the Marquee Club as the opening act for the Passions in March 1980.