The Dingoes frontman Broderick Smith dies aged 75 as musician passed ‘peacefully’

Dingoes frontman Broderick Smith has passed away ‘peacefully at home’ at the age of 75.

He was an early rock music success in Australia and also played with bands such as Carson and The Big Combo.

In addition to rock, he also played blues and country and many other types of music, while touring extensively in Australia and abroad.

The Dingoes were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2009, and Smith also worked as an actor, appearing in shows such as Blue Heelers and the State Coroner.

His son, Ambrose Kenny-Smith, followed in his father’s footsteps as a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist in Melbourne psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard.

“I hope you finally find the holy grail of harmonica sounds wherever you are,” Kenny-Smith said after his father’s death on Sunday.

‘I love you so much. I’m lost without you, but the show must go on.

“Goodbye, pretty, weird wombat.”

Smith was born in England, but moved to Melbourne with his family as a child as part of an emigration movement that came to be known as ‘Ten pound Poms’ because of the cost of sea transport.

He started playing harmonica, banjo, guitar and singing in bands when he was only 14 years old.

His music career began to take off when he joined the Adderley Smith Blues Band in 1966, but was interrupted two years later when he was called up for national service.

Upon his release from the military in 1970, he formed the country band Sundown, followed by Caron, a blues boogie group, in 1972.

Carson landed a major label recording contract with Harvest EMI, which introduced Smith to continued musical success for the first time.

His next band was The Dingoes, who signed with the iconic Aussie Mushroom Records label in 1973 and released their debut 7′ single Way Out West.

Both that and the self-titled album that followed in 1974 were critical and commercial successes.

In 2018, Smith told the ABC that ‘there was a lot of madness among the dingoes at the time’.

After their initial success at home, the band moved to the US, where they recorded their second album, Five Times The Sun, which was released in 1977.

A year later, after returning to Australia, Smith formed Broderick Smith’s Hired Hands, followed by Broderick Smith’s Big Combo and his first solo record in 1984.

In the decades since, he recorded with many pioneering artists from around the world, including Cat Stevens, Jimmy Barnes, Steve Cropper, The Memphis Horns, Buffy Saint Marie, Phil Ochs, Ted Egan, Tommy and Phil Emmanuel.

“Brod has been involved in writing about 200 songs and on his solo albums he has written virtually all the lyrics,” according to his website.

‘He usually starts with the lyrics in prose form, and when the music is written, he tends to adapt the lyrics to the music.

“Broderick believes that lyrics should say something and not just be something to sing along to.”

In 2013, he appeared on Eyes Like the Sky, the second album from King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard.

He wrote and narrated all the lyrics of what has been described as a “cult Western audiobook.”

The story of the lyrics is based on child soldiers, Native Americans and gunfights, all in the American frontier.

He is fondly remembered online, with musician Dan Warner tweeting ‘Vale Broderick Smith – one of the greatest Australian singers from one of the greatest Australian bands…’.

Ross Wilson, the founder of Daddy Cool and Mondo Rock, wrote ‘RIP Broderick Smith. A contemporary of mine, a buddy.

“We came through the same teenage blues scene in Melbourne in the mid-1960s blowing harps and busting out the boogie.

“Carson, Dingoes, Big Combo, he’s left his mark. Condolences to his family.”

Guitarist Cal Shortal, who plays with Smiths son, tweeted “Rest in peace Broderick Smith, your talent lives on through Ambrose and you will not be forgotten.”

Music professional Adam Dempsey said: “Vale Broderick Smith – honored to have known him and worked with him on three albums.

“One of the nicest and most talented in the business. His terrifying ode after the Black Saturday fires “The Birds Fell From The Sky” will stay with me forever. Condolences to his family and friends.”

Music producer Paul Vincent Matson also tweeted his memories of Smith, saying he saw Broderick Smith and Band Adelaide Uni play with Icehouse and INXS, the best concert I’ve ever seen.

“Vale Broderick, a good man, he will be missed, but forever remembered if I have my way.”