T. V. Smith
English musician
Timothy "T. V." Smith (born 5 April 1956) is an English singer-songwriter who was part of punk band The Adverts in the late 1970s. Since then he has fronted other bands, as well as pursuing a solo career.
Biography
Smith and Gaye Black (a.k.a. Gaye Advert) moved from, respectively, Okehampton in mid-Devon, and Bideford, a small coastal town in Devon, to form The Adverts in London in 1976. The Adverts are best known for their 1977 hit single "Gary Gilmore's Eyes" and acclaimed 1978 debut album Crossing the Red Sea with the Adverts. Following unsuccessful follow-up album Cast of Thousands, The Adverts split up in late 1979, and Smith formed a new band, T.V. Smith's Explorers. They were: Erik Russell (guitar), Colin Stoner (bass), Mel Wesson (keyboards) and David Sinclair (drums). The Explorers released their debut single "Tomahawk Cruise" (a response to the installation of BGM-109 Tomahawk Cruise missiles on UK soil) in 1980, followed by an album, The Last Words of the Great Explorer.
Smith then recorded as a solo artist, releasing the album Channel Five in 1983.
Smith's next band was Cheap.
The public source identifies “T. V. Smith” as english musician. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Smith, English and musician.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q276190. VIAF identifies the subject as 37117988. The Library of Congress control number is n98065579. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1956, 1976, 1977 and 1978.
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This entry incorporates text from “T. V. Smith” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.