Smith attended
King's College School in
Wimbledon, London, and the
University of Leeds in Leeds, West Yorkshire, where he graduated with a degree in English Language and Literature while also writing about film and music for the Leeds student newspaper. A film obsessive from a young age, he originally wanted to be a director or editor until admitting he was "more of a fan than a filmmaker". At age fifteen, Smith started writing songs on the piano and his laptop in his bedroom, but kept his music secret from his friends and family until he was persuaded by a friend to enter the Leeds Bright Young Things competition in 2007, which he ultimately became a finalist in. His early recordings included "Alchemy", "Words Are Words", "Irreverence", and "Dictator". Smith did not achieve mainstream success in his solo career but continued writing songs both alone and with his close friend and roommate Ralph Pelleymounter of the band To Kill a King. The two formed a side project called "Annie Oakley Hanging" which was described as "cowboy-like" by Pelleymounter. After finishing his studies, Smith returned to London, where he continued pursuing his solo career, and eventually formed
Bastille with Chris "Woody" Wood, Kyle Simmons, and Will Farquarson. Bastille has released five albums called
Bad Blood,
Wild World,
Doom Days, Give Me the Future and their fifth studio album,
"&", was released in October 2024. In 2014, Dan Smith took part in the
Band Aid charity single, "Do They Know It's Christmas?". In 2015, Smith featured as vocalist for the song "La Lune", produced and written by the French electronic musician
Madeon for his 2015 album
Adventure. In the same year, Smith co-wrote and provided vocals on "Better Love" with
Foxes, which was released 4 September 2015. In 2017, he participated in the Grenfell Tower charity song, "
Bridge Over Troubled Water". Smith was part of the music video for the
Charli XCX single "
Boys" which was released on 26 July 2017. He featured in the December 2017
ITV programme of ''
The Nation's Favourite'' series which found out the nation's favourite
Elton John song. At the
2019 Brit Awards, Smith performed a duet with American artist,
Pink, of her song, "
Just Give Me a Reason", as part of her medley performance. In November 2019, a cover of the
REO Speedwagon song "
Can't Fight This Feeling" sung by Smith was used in the
John Lewis & Partners 2019
Christmas advert. In 2023 he released a collaboration with Hans Zimmer doing an arrangement of Pompeii with a full orchestra. This was a part of the work he did as one of the composers for the
Planet Earth III, and the track appeared in the promotional material as well as the end credits. In addition to collaborating in the scoring, he provided vocals which were used in the production alongside artists like Raye. In May 2024, he was invited by
Greenpeace on a trip to the
Sargasso Sea on their ship the
Arctic Sunrise to learn about and raise awareness for their campaign to protect the area. It was here that he and cinematographer Tavish Campbell filmed the music video for "Intros & Narrators", the first track from a project titled 'Bastille Presents "&", Part One'. ==Influences==