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Obituaries
TV On The Radio bassist dies
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 21 April 2011
Gerard Smith, bass player with TV On The Radio, died yesterday after losing his battle with lung cancer. He was 36. A statement from the band on their website read: “We are very sad to announce the death of our beloved friend and bandmate, Gerard Smith, following a courageous fight against lung cancer. We will miss him terribly”.
Smith, who had a background in both visual arts and music, grew up in Long Island and was discovered by TV On The Radio frontman Tunde Adebimpe while he busked on the New York subways in 2005. He contributed to the band’s second album ‘Return To Cookie Mountain’ before becoming a fully fledged member of the group for next album ‘Dear Science’. He had to step back from promoting latest album ‘Nine Types Of Light’ last month because of his illness.
Smith took part in a number of other projects away from TV On The Radio, most notably writing and composing with Adebimpe the music for ‘The Lottery’, a documentary that looks at public education in the US through the eyes of Harlem’s Success Academy annual ‘intake lottery’.
