Robert James Smith (born April 21, 1959) is an English singer, musician, and lyricist who is best known as the frontman and principal songwriter of the influential English rock band The Cure and has been called a “rock anti-hero”.
Smith was originally inspired to become a musician by listening to his sister’s Beatles Help! album, “the melody of the Buzzcocks and Elvis Costello”, the “completely free” vibe he felt watching Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie (who proved “you could define your own genre and not worry about what anyone else is doing”) and Alex Harvey.
Originally just “the drunk rhythm guitarist who wrote all these weird songs”, Smith eventually took over vocals after he realized “I hated my voice, but I didn’t hate it more than I hated everyone else’s voice.” His distinctive sound and look, combined with his versatile and poignant songwriting, have made him “one of the most iconic rock stars of all time”. He is often also labeled a goth icon – something he rejects again and again. He told Rolling Stone in 2019: