Nate Smith (born September 19, 1985) is an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

singer signed to

Sony Music Nashville Sony Music Nashville is the country music branch of the Sony Music, Sony Music Group. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Sony Music Nashville includes its three country recording labels Arista Nashville, Columbia Records#Columbia Nashville, Colu ...

. After his song "Wildfire" went viral on

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

in 2020, he signed a publishing deal with

Sony/ATV Sony Music Publishing LLC (formerly Sony/ATV Music Publishing) is an American Music publisher (popular music), music publisher. Responsible for publishing the largest quantity of music, with over five million songs owned or administered as of en ...

. He gained prominence on social media before landing his major label record deal. He was previously signed to

Word Records Word Records is a Christian faith-based entertainment company based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is owned by Curb Records, and is a part of Word Entertainment. It is distributed by Warner Records (the former Warner Bros. Records). History In ...

Early life and career

Born and raised in Paradise, California, Smith was introduced to performing music by his church youth leader and cites

Garth Brooks Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American Country music, country singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him his immense popularity, particularly in the United States, ...

Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the leader and frontman of the Rock music, rock bands Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Mudcrutch and a member of the late 1980s sup ...

, and

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1967 by the singer and guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green. Green named the band by combining the surnames of the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and the bassis ...

as his early influences. After moving to Nashville at age 23, he signed a record deal with Word Records and a publishing deal with

Centricity Music Centricity Music is an American contemporary Christian music record label that was founded in Washington. The label's roster includes artists such as Lauren Daigle, Jordan Feliz, Katy Nichole, Jason Gray, Andrew Peterson and NEEDTOBREATHE. Hi ...

. During this time, he opened for artists including

Brett Eldredge Brett Ryan Eldredge (born March 23, 1986) is an American country music singer, songwriter and record producer. Eldredge has had five No. 1 singles on the ''Billboard'' Country Airplay chart, three of which came from his debut album, '' Brin ...

Eli Young Band Eli Young Band is an American country music band from Denton, Texas. The band consists of Mike Eli (lead vocals, guitar), James Young (guitar), Jon Jones (bass guitar), and Chris Thompson (drums). They released their self-titled debut album in 2 ...

, and

X Ambassadors X Ambassadors (also stylized XA) are an American pop rock band from Ithaca, New York, that consists of lead vocalist Sam Harris, keyboardist Casey Harris, and drummer Adam Levin. Russ Flynn is a touring member who plays guitar and bass. Their m ...

. Smith performed at "Wild West Festival" in Hays, Kansas in summer of 2024. After returning to Paradise, California, in 2018, Smith's home burned down in the Butte County Camp Fire. The tragedy inspired him to write his breakout song "One of These Days". News of the release was reported by local press and several national outlets including

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

, which encouraged Smith to return to Nashville and continue pursuing music. After relocating, Smith released his next single, "Wildfire". A clip of the performer singing his track went viral on the social media platform TikTok, gaining over 3 million views. A few months later, in November 2021, Smith signed a record deal with Sony Music Nashville and dropped his major label debut, "Raised Up", which he co-wrote with hit songwriter Jonathan Smith. He soon followed it with "I Don't Wanna Go to Heaven". The track helped land him on 2022 Artists to Watch lists by ''Country Now'', ''Country Lifestyle Network'' and ''PopWrapped''. After Arista Nashville closed in March 2023, Smith was reassigned to

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

' Nashville division. The song "Bulletproof" was released on February 2, 2024 as the lead single from Smith's EP ''Through the Smoke''. The song was subsequently re-recorded featuring

Avril Lavigne Avril Ramona Lavigne ( ; ; born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is a key musician in popularizing pop-punk music, as she paved the way for female-driven, punk-influenced pop music in the early 2000s. List of awa ...

. This version was released on May 16, 2024. " Can You Die from a Broken Heart", was released on September 30, 2024, four days ahead of the ''

California Gold California Gold was an American soccer team which began playing under the Gold moniker in 2002. The club was founded in 1997 as the Stanislaus County Cruisers. The team was a member of the United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League (PDL), ...

''s release. The song features vocals by

, who had previously collaborated with Smith in May 2024.

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

Singles

Promotional singles

Other certified songs

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Nate American country singer-songwriters Living people 1985 births