Smith was raised in Los Angeles by her mother Lucy Salenger, a TV executive at CBS. Mother and daughter moved to
Chicago in 1972, when Salenger married political economist
Marvin Zonis and became a powerful regional figure in the film business as head of the Illinois Film Office. She studied theatre and literature at
Bennington College in
Vermont, where notable classmates included authors
Bret Easton Ellis,
Donna Tartt, and
Jonathan Lethem. She has been interviewed about her time at the notoriously unstructured, drug-rife, and wealthy private university in several episodes of a podcast series titled
Once Upon a Time... At Bennington College which was created by
Lili Anolik. Smith formed a group, Banda Dratsing, in which she performed as bassist/vocalist; she adopted the name "Brix" after
the Clash's 1979 song "
The Guns of Brixton".
The Fall at the
Markthalle Hamburg,
Perverted by Language Tour, April 13, 1984 Smith met
Mark E. Smith, vocalist of
the Fall, at a gig at
the Metro in Chicago on 23 April 1983; she moved to his native
United Kingdom, where they settled in
Prestwich,
Bury, England, and married on 19 July of that year. She initially played with the group on two songs for the album
Perverted by Language. She co-wrote some of the best-regarded Fall tracks from the period, and is acknowledged for introducing a more mainstream, pop-oriented element to the group's sound. She remained with the Fall until her divorce from Smith in 1989. She rejoined for the live promotion of the album
Middle Class Revolt (1994) and remained for the recording and promotion of albums
Cerebral Caustic (1995) and
The Light User Syndrome (1996).
The Adult Net In 1985, Smith launched side project
the Adult Net They played the
Rebellion Festival in August 2016, where Brix was interviewed by
John Robb. The line-up is completed by guitarists Steve Trafford (another ex-Fall member) and Jason Brown. By this time new material was being written and introduced into the set. A single, "Something to Lose", was released on Blang Records in November 2016, followed by the album
Part 2 in September 2017. Their second album,
Breaking State, was released in October 2018 on Grit Over Glamour Records and almost exactly a year later in October 2019, their third album,
Super Blood Wolf Moon, came out on the same label.
Solo work and other activities After leaving the Fall and disbanding the Adult Net, Smith went on to tour with
the Bangles. She became romantically involved with
violinist
Nigel Kennedy,
Work in fashion Smith married fashion entrepreneur Philip Start. In 2002, the couple opened the boutique "Start" in east London. The business expanded to four boutiques and an online store. In recent years, Smith has appeared as a fashion expert on British television shows, including
Channel 4's ''
Gok's Fashion Fix''. She also appeared on
Animal Planet UK's
Top Dog,
The Culture Show on
BBC Two, ''
John Peel's Record Box, LK Today''s "What's Hot and What's Not" segment and
Sky 1's
Angela and Friends. She appeared as a fashion expert on
Sky television's coverage of the
2011 Academy Awards in February 2011, and she took part in the fashion commentary in Channel 4's coverage of
Royal Ascot in June 2013. That summer she presented the first series of
Ultimate Shopper, broadcast in the UK by digital channel
TLC. ==References==