User:Stuguitar

Stuart Smith was born in York, England.

The son of an RAF jet fighter pilot, he was classically trained on guitar from age 7 and at 14 was turned onto Rock & Roll after seeing a Deep Purple concert. He turned professional at age 17, touring England and Europe with his band Sidewinder before moving to London in the late 70's. At 19 he met Ritchie Blackmore and the two them became firm friends. Ritchie took Stuart under his wing and taught him how to refine his style.

He played around the London scene with a number of bands including putting a band together with Ian Paice after Deep Purple broke up. In 1983 at Blackmore's suggestion he moved to the States and formed a band called Mirage which played around the East Coast area before moving to Los Angeles in 1986.

There he joined the reformed Sweet with Steve Priest and went on to form Midnight with Kelly Hansen and Jay Schellen from Hurricane. Midnight had many incarnations including one with drummer Richie Onori and Joe Lynn Turner. With Kelly & Jay the name got changed to Heaven & Earth and after a brief stint playing with Keith Emerson in a band called the Aliens of Extraordinary Ability he was offered a deal by Samsung to record a solo album. The album entitled "Stuart Smith's Heaven & Earth" featured vocal performances by Richie Sambora, Joe Lynn Turner, Kelly Hansen and Glenn Hughes and was acclaimed by critics to be the best rock album in the last 10 years.

He then dropped his name from the title and recorded a follow up album called "Windows to the World" featuring Kelly Keeling, (MSG/Blue Murder) on vocals. After being offered a deal for a third Heaven & Earth album which he declined, he formed Black Star Records with long time drummer Richie Onori and Kelly Hansen. They re-released the first Heaven & Earth album featuring 2 new bonus tracks, one featuring Toto vocalist Bobby Kimball and the other with long time friend Joe Lynn Turner.

In November 2004 the album won "Best Overall Album of the Year" at the "Los Angeles All Access Music Awards" along with Stuart picking up the award for "Best Guitarist" a feat he repeated the following year. He is currently writing for the next Heaven & Earth album to be released on Black Star Records.