Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times - Tuesday, 7 September, 2004
So it was only in 2001 that he recorded his debut album, Child of Light, which featured the hit Lonely. He followed up with the album Lovely Things in 2002.
Now the likeable jazz guitarist is rubbing shoulders with the best in the local music industry and his popularity is on the rise. Smith this week released his third album, My African Heart, for which he enlisted the services of Jonathan Butler, the Cape Town-born and Los Angeles-based singer/musician, to produce 10 of the 13 tracks. The others Smith produced himself.
The jazzy album also features acclaimed US saxophonist Kirk Whalum on the track 10 Years Free, a song that is based on traditional Cape goema rhythms and African chants, and is dedicated to a decade of democracy in South Africa.
The recording was done at Butler's mansion in the Los Angeles suburb of West Hill where, Smith says, he met music stars such as Leila Hathaway, Will Downing and Rashaan Peterson. The album is scheduled for a US release later this year.
Smith, who hails from Wentworth in KwaZulu-Natal, pays tribute to his home on the track My Hometown (KwaZulu). Singing in Zulu, the musician celebrates the beauty and friendliness of Zulu culture against the background of the Aids epidemic ravaging the region and the violence which once engulfed it.
My African Heart is laden with social messages. Smith dedicates the mid-tempo track I Believe to people living with HIV/Aids, motivating them to be strong and celebrate life.
Smith describes himself as a "hopeless romantic" and thinks the track Love Has Brought Me will have the same effect on audiences as Lonely.
Industry bigwigs have taken notice of Smith and accolades for his music have continued to pour in.
He bagged the Kora Most Promising Male Artist award in 2002, the Sama Best Newcomer award in 2002 and the Sama Best Adult Contemporary Music (English) awards in both 2002 and 2003.
The versatile guitarist and singer also plays piano, bass and drums.
And he no longer records on a hi-fi at home - he has a studio at his house in Umhlanga where he is recording two artists he plans to release on his own label.
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