Smith was born in Spokane, Washington in 1965 and attended high school in Bakersfield, California, relocating to Seattle in 1987. He befriended drummer Regan Hagar while both were working at Tower Records in the late ‘80s. The pair formed Satchel shortly thereafter, and eventually, formed Brad with Stone Gossard and Jeremy Toback. In an interview from 2014, Smith said that the main songwriters in Brad were he and Gossard. Brad would go on to release five studio albums during their career and Satchel would issue three studio albums, while both bands would share credit for a compilation. Smith's only major chart hit came in 1999, when the British techno group Lo Fidelity Allstars remixed the Pigeonhed song "Battle Flag" and released it as a single. The song, credited to "Lo Fidelity Allstars feat. Pigeonhed", reached #6 on Billboard's Alternative Songs chart in July 1999. In 2005, Smith unveiled a musical project called "The Diamond Hand" involving many musicians. He also has worked with Thaddeus Turner under the name Forever Breakers. "From the North" was Shawn's newest band with core members of Malfunkshun and the lyrics left by the late Andrew Wood. Since 2006, the band has also been billed as "Power of Wings" and "Von Nord". Hagar has since been replaced by Seattle drummer Mike Hommel. The band changed its name in July 2008 to All Hail the Crown and planned to release new music under this banner. Also in 2008, Smith appeared on the albumLotuk by Arsenal. Smith was interviewed for and featured throughout the 2009 book, Grunge Is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music. On April 14, 2010, the four surviving members of Mother Love Bone reunited for the first time in 20 years, with Smith serving as frontman, as part of a sold-out "Brad and Friends" evening at Seattle's Showbox. In November 2015, Smith joined the band Sweet Water for a one-off performance at Seattle's Benaroya Hall. The show was performed with a full orchestra. Smith was found dead on April 5, 2019 at his home in Seattle. A later autopsy determined he died April 3 of a torn aorta and high blood pressure. At the time of his passing, Smith was working on a new studio album with Brad.
"Shake It ", a song that remained unreleased until Shawn Smith made it available in digital format in 2007, was featured in the background of the cocaine scene of the "Proshai, Livushka" episode of The Sopranos. "Leaving California" and "Wrapped in My Memory" from Smith's solo album Shield of Thorns were both featured prominently on the "Long Term Parking" episode of The Sopranos. Yet another Shawn Smith related song has been featured on the show: Pigeonhed's "Battle Flag" appeared on the "46 Long" episode and was later included on "The Sopranos: Peppers & Eggs: Music from the HBO Original Series". "Battle Flag" has also been featured in a season six episode of NBC's prime-time medical drama ER, season three episode eleven of Showtime's drama Queer as Folk, as well as a season one episode of The WB's Smallville. It has also been featured in the film Coyote Ugly and the trailer for Charlie's Angels.
