What Is Curt Smith's Net Worth?
Curt Smith is an English singer, musician, producer, songwriter, and actor who has a net worth of $40 million. Curt Smith is best known for being the co-lead vocalist and bass guitarist of the band Tears for Fears, which he co-founded with Roland Orzabal in 1981. With Tears for Fears, Curt has released the studio albums "The Hurting" (1983), "Songs from the Big Chair" (1985), "The Seeds of Love" (1989), "Everybody Loves a Happy Ending" (2004), and "The Tipping Point (2022). The band's first three albums were certified Platinum or higher in the U.K. and Canada, and their singles "Mad World," "Change," "Pale Shelter," "Shout," "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," and "Sowing the Seeds of Love" reached the top 10 on the UK Singles Chart. As a solo artist, Smith has released the albums "Soul on Board" (1993), "Aeroplane" (1999), "Halfway, Pleased" (2008), and "Deceptively Heavy" (2013). Curt played himself in three episodes of the USA Network series "Psych" (2010–2014) and in the Peacock film "Psych 3: This Is Gus" (2021), and he performed the "Last Christmas"-inspired song" Previous Holiday" in a music video for the film. In 2010, he hosted and produced the music web series "Stripped Down Live with Curt Smith."
Early Life
Curt Smith was born on June 24, 1961, in Bath, Somerset, England. He grew up on the Snow Hill council estate, and he studied at the Beechen Cliff School.
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Tears for Fears
Smith and Roland Orzabal met as teenagers, and Curt learned to play bass when they started a band. The duo later formed Graduate, a ska-influenced band, and released the album "Acting My Age" in 1980. They were also session musicians for the new wave band Neon. In 1981, Curt and Roland formed Tears for Fears, and after signing with Phonogram Records, they released the 1983 album "The Hurting." The album reached #1 on the UK Albums Chart and was certified Platinum in the U.K. and Canada and Gold in the U.S. and France. The singles "Mad World" and "Change" were certified Silver in the U.K. and reached #3 and #4 on the UK Singles Chart, respectively. "Mad World" gained new popularity in 2001 when Gary Jules and Michael Andrews recorded a cover version for the film "Donnie Darko." The second Tears for Fears album, "Songs from the Big Chair," was released in 1985, and it cracked the top 10 on the charts in nine countries. The album went 7× Platinum in Canada, 5× Platinum in the U.S., and 3× Platinum in the U.K., and the singles "Shout" and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" topped the charts in several countries. "Shout" was certified Platinum in Canada, and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" went 5× Platinum in Australia and 2× Platinum in the U.K.
Next, the band released the 1989 album "The Seeds of Love," which reached #1 in the U.K. and was certified Platinum or higher in four countries. Smith moved to New York after leaving the band in 1991 due to tension with Orzabal. Curt released the solo albums "Soul on Board" (1993) and "Aeroplane" (1999), and he released a 1998 self-titled album with the band Mayfield, which he formed with Charlton Pettus, Doug Petty, Russ Irwin, and Shawn Pelton. In 2000, Smith spoke to Orzabal for the first time in almost a decade after Roland "had to get some kind of notary seal on some document for Curt regarding a property of his." Smith subsequently visited Orzabal in England, and the two decided to make another Tears for Fears album. "Everybody Loves a Happy Ending" was released in 2004, and before the band recorded another album, Curt released two more solo albums, 2008's "Halfway, Pleased" and 2013's "Deceptively Heavy." In 2021, Tears for Fears released the album "Live at Massey Hall" (which was recorded in 1985) as a Record Store Day exclusive, and they released the studio album "The Tipping Point" in early 2022. "The Tipping Point" reached #1 in Scotland and on the "Billboard" Top Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums, and Top Album Sales charts, and Charles Waring of "Record Collector" magazine wrote that the album was "quite possibly the duo's most impressive musical offering in a mostly glorious 40-year career."
(Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Coachella)
Personal Life
Curt married Lynda "Lynne" Altman on December 18, 1982, and they divorced in 1988. He then wed marketing executive Frances Pennington on June 29, 1996, and they welcomed daughters Diva and Wilder in 1999 and 2001, respectively. Smith has been a naturalized American citizen since 2007, and he is a fan of Los Angeles FC and Manchester United Football Club. While staying home under L.A.'s COVID-19 quarantine orders, Curt and Diva performed "Mad World" on acoustic guitar. Instead of performing the original 1982 version of the song, they performed the Gary Jules and Michael Andrews version that was featured in "Donnie Darko."
Awards and Nominations
In 1990, Tears for Fears received three MTV Video Music Award nominations for "Sowing the Seeds of Love," winning Breakthrough Video. Their other nominations were for Best Group Video and Best Post-Modern Video. "Sowing the Seeds of Love" also earned the band a Brit Award nomination for Video of the Year. They previously won a Brit Award for Best British Single for "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" in 1986. In 2021, the Ivor Novello Awards honored Smith and Orzabal with the Outstanding Song Collection Award for "their incredible songwriting partnership that produced era-defining Tears for Fears albums including 'The Hurting,' 'Songs from the Big Chair' and 'The Seeds of Love,' as well as critically acclaimed, innovative hit singles: 'Mad World,' 'Shout,' 'Everybody Wants to Rule the World' and 'Sowing the Seeds of Love.'"
