ADRIAN SMITH BIOGRAPHY

        Adrian Frederic Smith (also known as 'H') was born in Hackney, on 27 February, 1957. 

        One of his first influences were Deep Purple, among others like Black Sabbath, Free etc. In the beginning age wanted to become a singer (well, he has a pretty good voice anyway). The person who got Adrian into playing the guitar, was actually none other than Dave Murray. They both went to the same school, and since Dave had been already playing the guitar, and he taught Adrian a couple of chords - not too bad for a start. 

        Adrian and Dave became good friends, hung out together and practised together. Adrian left school at 16 to become a rock star. He and Dave Murray founded the band 'Evil Ways', the name of which was later changed to 'Urchin'. 

        Not a lot of people know that Adrian wrote the song '22 Acacia Avenue' during the Urchin days, even though it sounded very differently from what ended up on the 'Number of The Beast' album. 

        Urchin got a record deal, and they released 2 singles: 'Black Leather Fantasy' in 1978 and 'She's a Roller' in 1980, with Adrian being the singer. Both sounded a bit like Deep Purple. 

        While Dave was in and out of the band; he left them for maiden, and he re-joined Urchin after some sort of misunderstanding with former Iron Maiden guitarist Denis Wilcock. When Dave left Urchin to re-join Iron Maiden again in 1980, Adrian was asked to join them as well. He turned them down as he believed in Urchin probably as much as Steve believed in Maiden, H still believed that his band would make it. 

        However, in 1981 Urchin disbanded and Adrian got a second chance from Maiden, which he took. He got auditioned (he had to learn Wrathchild) and go the job. 

        He and Dave worked together very well as they had both known each other since they were kids, and because both are brilliant guitar players. 

        Adrian wrote quite a few hit songs for maiden ('22 Acacia Avenue', 'Flight Of Icarus', Two Minutes to Midnight etc.). Around 1985 he and Nicko played a couple of secret gigs with some friends under the name of 'Entire Population of Hackney' and 'Sherman Tankers'. The played covers, as well as a couple of old Urchin songs and a few songs that later ended up on the ASAP album. One of these secret gigs was the famous 'Secret' gig at Marquee in December 1985, when at the end of the show the rest of Iron Maiden joined them on the stage for the last few songs. 

        Adrian's first proper solo project came out in 1989. the band's name was 'ASAP', the acronym for 'Adrian Smith And Project'. The album surprised everyone, it was good rock and roll music but more commercial than Maiden, maybe it sounded a bit like Urchin. 

        At this point Adrian got tired of the album - tour - album - tour lifestyle, he just felt unhappy in general. Adrian left Iron Maiden in 1990. He took part of the writing process of the 'No Prayer for The Dying' album, though, but he didn't play on the album. 

        Adrian didn't do anything for a while, spent most of his time with his family. Then soon he realised that he missed something - playing. He got together with a couple of friends, and formed ''The Untouchables'. They didn't release anything (even though H said in a recent interview that he might release some of that live material), but they played at a couple of clubs and Adrian seemed to be happy again. 

        In 1992 Iron Maiden played at Donington again after four years, and they invited 'H' to play 'Running Free' with them at the end of the show. Little did they know that this would be the same line-up 7 years later… 

        In 1996 Adrian release 'State Of Mind' under a new band name: Psycho Motel (the former name of the band was 'Skeleton Cew'). It sounded a bit like Led Zeppelin, a bit like Black Sabbath, but definitely heavier than anything he had ever done, including most song he had written for Maiden. Psycho Motel' was a four-piece band, and Adrian didn't sing on their albums, but he wrote most songs, even some lyrics (!). In 1996 Psychol Motel open for Maiden on Feb. 2 in Nottingham. 

        Adrian played on Michael Kiske's solo album along with Kai Hansen (both of them being ex-Helloween members) and co-wrote a song called 'The Calling'. 

        Psycho Motel's second album, 'Welcome To The World' was released in Japan, with a different singer this time. On this album Dave played the guitar on one song. 

        In 1997 Bruce asked Adrian to join his solo band as H wasn't doing anything them. 'Accident Of Birth' sounded very much like Maiden. Adrian toured with Bruce's solo band, then a year later he participated on Bruce's next solo album -The Chemical Wedding - which was followed by another tour. 

        In January 1999 Bruce was asked to re-join Maiden, and the band and Rod thought it would be a great idea to have H back, too. Now Iron Maiden is the only band in the world with 3 guitar players. 

        Adrian's name means (a person) out of Hadria', and it comes from the Latin. 
    
        Adrian supports Watford FC.