Smith was born in
Spokane, Washington, in 1965 and attended high school in
Bakersfield, California, relocating to
Seattle in 1987. He befriended drummer
Regan Hagar while both were working at
Tower Records in the late ‘80s. The pair formed Satchel shortly thereafter, and eventually, formed Brad with
Stone Gossard and Jeremy Toback. In an interview from 2014, Smith said that the main songwriters in Brad were he and Gossard. Brad would go on to release six studio albums during their career (
Shame, Interiors, Welcome to Discovery Park, Best Friends?, United We Stand, and ''In The Moment That You're Born
) and Satchel would issue three studio albums (EDC, The Family,
and Heartache and Honey
), while both bands would share credit for a compilation (Brad vs. Satchel''). Smith's only major chart hit came in 1999, when the British techno group
Lo Fidelity Allstars remixed the Pigeonhed song "
Battle Flag" and released it as a single. The song, credited to "Lo Fidelity Allstars feat. Pigeonhed", reached #6 on Billboard's
Alternative Songs chart in July 1999. In 2005, Smith unveiled a musical project called The Diamond Hand, involving various musicians. He also worked with Thaddeus Turner (formerly of
Maktub and Brad), under the name Forever Breakers. "From the North" was Shawn's newest band with core members of
Malfunkshun (Regan Hagar, Kevin Wood, Cory Kane) and the lyrics left by the late
Andrew Wood. Since 2006, the band has also been billed as "Power of Wings" and "Von Nord" (allegedly meaning "From the North" in German; whereas this actually reads "vom Norden" or "aus dem Norden"). Hagar has since been replaced by Seattle drummer Mike Hommel. The band changed its name in July 2008 to All Hail the Crown and planned to release new music under this banner. Also in 2008, Smith appeared on the album
Lotuk by
Arsenal. Smith was interviewed for and featured throughout the 2009 book,
Grunge Is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music. On April 14, 2010, the four surviving members of
Mother Love Bone reunited for the first time in twenty years, with Smith serving as frontman, as part of a sold-out "Brad and Friends" evening at
Seattle's Showbox. In November 2015, Smith joined the band
Sweet Water for a one-off performance at Seattle's
Benaroya Hall. The show was performed with a full orchestra. Smith was found dead on April 3, 2019, at his home in Seattle. A later autopsy determined he died April 3 of a
torn aorta and
high blood pressure. ==Discography==