Smith grew up in
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and attended
Andover High School and
Lahser High School, graduating from Lahser in 1980. While he was still at school, he ran away from home for a period of time. When he returned, his mother sent him to a boarding school. He then worked a series of jobs while playing in several bands, including Tilt, Tyrant, Terence and E-Trian. One of them, Toby Redd, put out a record; and opened for
Kansas.
Later in his twenties, he moved to California, where his brother Brad lived, and ended up in
Los Angeles where he joined the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He joined the Chili Peppers in late 1988 after their former drummer,
Jack Irons, quit due to the distress and chaos of former guitarist
Hillel Slovak's death from a drug overdose. According to
Anthony Kiedis' autobiography
Scar Tissue and
Flea's liner notes on the
Mother's Milk reissue, after Smith's first audition for the band, Anthony Kiedis told him he was allowed to join the band if he would shave his head, to test Smith's devotion to the band, but mostly because of Kiedis' dislike of Smith's more conformative Rock & Roll hair style (which Kiedis' likened to a
Guns N' Roses look – long hair and a bandana), as it didn't mesh with the band's punk/funk, and
alternative image. Smith came back the next day with his hair still in a bandana, yet was allowed to stay as Kiedis found his obstinancy impressive, and according to Flea, they liked his funk-groove drumming style.
Although he is mainly known as the drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smith's drumming is featured on over a hundred albums in addition to those recorded with Red Hot Chili Peppers. He has also toured the world extensively performing drum clinics, and recently did a series of clinics with one of his drumming heroes,
Deep Purple's Ian Paice. In 1993, Smith released
Red Hot Rhythm Method, an educational video for aspiring drummers.
Smith is currently developing a side project called "Chickenfoot" with former
Van Halen members
Sammy Hagar and
Michael Anthony.
