Paul Granville Samwell-Smith (born Paul Smith, 8 May 1943, in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, Californi ...

, Surrey, England) is an English musician and record producer. He was a founding member and the bassist of the 1960s English rock band

the Yardbirds The Yardbirds are an English rock band, formed in London in 1963. The band's core lineup featured vocalist and harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist and later bassist Chris Dreja and bassist/producer Paul Samwe ...

, which launched leading guitarists

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list o ...

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock guitarist. He rose to prominence with the Yardbirds and after fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to a mainly instrumental style, with a fo ...

and

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various alternative ...

to fame. As a youth, Samwell-Smith attended Hampton School with Yardbirds drummer Jim McCarty. While in the Yardbirds, he co-produced and

engineered Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

much of their music, working with record producers such as

Mickie Most Michael Peter Hayes (20 June 1938 – 30 May 2003), known as Mickie Most, was an English record producer behind scores of hit singles for acts such as the Animals, Herman's Hermits, the Nashville Teens, Donovan, Lulu, Suzi Quatro, Hot Ch ...

, Simon Napier-Bell and Giorgio Gomelsky. Samwell-Smith was a major contributor to the original tracks written by the Yardbirds during his tenure with the band. He left the group in June 1966 to pursue a career as a record producer.

The Yardbirds

In late May 1963, he formed the Yardbirds with

Keith Relf William Keith Relf (22 March 194312 May 1976) was an English musician, best known as the lead vocalist and harmonica player for rock band the Yardbirds. He then formed the band Renaissance with his sister Jane Relf, The Yardbirds ex-drummer Ji ...

, Anthony Topham, Chris Dreja, and Jim McCarty. During this period his primary instrument was a short-scale

Epiphone Rivoli The Epiphone Rivoli was a semi-hollowbody electric bass guitar designed by Gibson and built by Epiphone in Kalamazoo, Michigan from 1959 until 1970. From 1993 until 1999, the model was reissued as a part of the Korean-Japanese Epiphone line. Ori ...

bass. He played on the UK albums, '' Five Live Yardbirds'' and '' Yardbirds'' (also known as '' Roger the Engineer'') and on the US albums ''

For Your Love "For Your Love" is a rock song written by Graham Gouldman and recorded by English group the Yardbirds. Released in March 1965, it was their first top ten hit in both the UK and the US. The song was a departure from the group's blues root ...

'', '' Having a Rave Up'', and '' Over Under Sideways Down'' (which was ''Roger the Engineer'' retitled for the US market), all released on Epic Records. He provided background vocals on many songs like " Good Morning Little School Girl", "

", " Heart Full of Soul", "

Evil Hearted You "Evil Hearted You" is a 1965 song by English rock group the Yardbirds. It was written by future 10cc member Graham Gouldman, who also wrote the group's two prior singles, " For Your Love" and "Heart Full of Soul". It reached No. 3 on the mai ...

", and more. He composed the Gregorian chant arrangements and lyrics of the songs "Still I'm Sad" and "Turn Into Earth". While in the Yardbirds he started working on the technical side in the studio. In 1966, becoming tired of touring and wanting to focus on production, he left the Yardbirds and was replaced by Jimmy Page. The last Yardbirds album he played on was ''Roger the Engineer''. Regarding Samwell-Smith's years with the Yardbirds, a 2020 article in

Guitar World ''Guitar World'' is a monthly music magazine for guitarists – and fans of guitar-based music and trends – that has been published since July 1980. ''Guitar World'', the best-selling guitar magazine in the United States, contains original art ...

opined: "As a bassist, Paul Samwell-Smith was solid and occasionally prominently inventive. No doubt, had he stuck to that he’d have been feted as an influence by many." In the early 1980s, Samwell-Smith played in the Yardbirds reunion band

Box of Frogs Box of Frogs were an English rock band formed in 1983 by former members of the Yardbirds, who released their first album in 1984. The core group consisted of Chris Dreja, Paul Samwell-Smith, and Jim McCarty. Vocals on their eponymous album w ...

with original Yardbird members Chris Dreja and Jim McCarty. The Box of Frogs did not tour because Chris Dreja was busy with his photography and Samwell-Smith was busy in the recording studio. He was inducted to the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and ...

as a member of the Yardbirds in 1992.

Records and film

Producer

He went on to become a successful producer with credits including

Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His musical style consists of folk, pop, rock, and, later i ...

' albums ''

Tea for the Tillerman ''Tea for the Tillerman'' is the fourth studio album by singer-songwriter Cat Stevens, released in November 1970. Overview Stevens' second album released during the year 1970, ''Tea for the Tillerman'' includes many of his best-known songs such ...

'' (1970), ''

Teaser and the Firecat ''Teaser and the Firecat'' is the fifth studio album by Cat Stevens, released in October 1971. At the Australian 1972 King of Pop Awards the album won Biggest Selling LP. Overview The album contains 10 songs, including the hits "Morning Has B ...

'' (1971) and ''

Catch Bull at Four ''Catch Bull at Four'' is the sixth studio album by Cat Stevens. The title is taken from one of the Ten Bulls of Zen. In the United States the album spent three weeks at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200. It also reached number one in Austra ...

'' (1972). An article in

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

praised Samwell-Smith's "deft, understated touch" on these recordings as a primary reason for their commercial success, and commented: "The chamber ensemble palette Samwell-Smith employed, consisting mainly of acoustic guitars, piano, upright bass and hand percussion, and the refined arrangements he crafted, perfectly complement the interior landscapes that Stevens was exploring. Stevens had the pure, raw talent, certainly, but it was Samwell-Smith who seemed to understand how best to transmute and position that talent for maximum artistic impact." Samwell-Smith also produced recordings for Jethro Tull,

Carly Simon Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, memoirist, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Top 40 U.S. hits include " Anticipation" (No. 13), " The Right Th ...

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

, Murray Head, Chris de Burgh, Beverley Craven,

Toto Coelo Toto Coelo (renamed Total Coelo in the US) was a 1980s British new wave group, founded by producer Barry Blue. The original members were singers Anita Mahadevan, Lacey Bond, Lindsey Danvers, Ros Holness (daughter of television presenter Bob Hol ...

, Illusion and

Claire Hamill Josephine Claire Hamill (born 4 August 1954) is an English singer-songwriter. In addition to her solo career, she has collaborated with Wishbone Ash and Yes's Steve Howe. Life and career Claire Hamill was born in Port Clarence, County Durha ...

. Other production credits include two of

Amazing Blondel Amazing Blondel are an English acoustic progressive folk band, containing Eddie Baird, John Gladwin, and Terry Wincott. They released a number of LPs for Island Records in the early 1970s. They are sometimes categorised as psychedelic folk or a ...

's albums for

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anothe ...

; the first and

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ea ...

albums by All About Eve for Mercury; and "

American Tune "American Tune" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. It was the third single from his third studio album, ''There Goes Rhymin' Simon'' (1973), released on Columbia Records. The song, a meditation on the American experience, is ...

" (1973 single) with Paul Simon.

Film

Paul Samwell-Smith was the

musical producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

for the film '' Harold and Maude'' in 1971, with music written by

, which became a cult classic. In addition, two decades later, he produced ''

Postcards from the Edge ''Postcards from the Edge'' is a semi-autobiographical novel by Carrie Fisher, first published in 1987. It was later adapted by Fisher herself into a motion picture of the same name, which was directed by Mike Nichols and released by Columbia ...

'' in 1990, as a music sound recording and recording supervisor.

References

External links