Rhonda Smith is a Canadian

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...

, best known for her work with

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

and

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 focus ...

Biography

Smith was born in

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

, Canada. Her family moved to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

when she was a child. She and her three siblings were encouraged to play music and she began playing

baritone horn The baritone horn, or sometimes just called baritone, is a low-pitched brass instrument in the saxhorn family.Robert Donington, "The Instruments of Music", (pp. 113ff ''The Family of Bugles'') 2nd ed., Methuen, London, 1962 It is a piston-val ...

, keyboards, guitar, and eventually

electric bass The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck The ...

. In addition to taking private classical training on upright bass, Smith attended

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

in Montreal studying jazz performance. After gaining some experience in the local rock scene, she moved on to work with Canadian artists

Claude Dubois Claude André Dubois (born 24 April 1947) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Dubois was an early star of the Francophone musical '' Starmania''. He was a vocalist in the Canadian famine relief song " Tears Are Not Enough" and was nominated Most ...

Daniel Lavoie Daniel Lavoie (; born Joseph-Hubert-Gérald Lavoie on March 17, 1949) is a Canadian singer–songwriter, actor, producer, poet, and radio host, known for his song " Ils s'aiment" and the role of Frollo in musical ''Notre-Dame de Paris''. He rele ...

Robert Charlebois Robert Charlebois, OC, OQ (born June 25, 1944) is a Québecois author, composer, musician, performer and actor. Charlebois was born in Montreal, Quebec. Among his best known songs are ''Lindberg'' (the duo with Louise Forestier in particular ...

and James Blovin. She won a

Juno award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

for "Best Contemporary Jazz Album", for her work with Jim Hillman and The Merlin Factor. While attending a music convention in Germany, Smith met

Sheila E. Sheila Cecilia Escovedo (born December 12, 1957) better known under the stage name Sheila E., is an American percussionist and singer. She began her career in the mid-1970s as a percussionist and singer for The George Duke Band. After leaving t ...

and gave her a press kit after learning Prince was putting a new band together. Two months later, Prince called and Smith went to

Paisley Park Paisley Park Records was an American record label founded by musician Prince in 1985, which was distributed by and funded in part by Warner Bros. Records. It was started in 1985, following the success of the film and album '' Purple Rain''. ...

to record on the ''

Emancipation Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranchis ...

'' album. Smith recorded and toured with Prince for almost 10 years. Other musicians she has worked with include

Chaka Khan Yvette Marie Stevens (born March 23, 1953), better known by her stage name Chaka Khan (), is an American singer. Her career has spanned more than five decades, beginning in the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the funk band Rufus. Known as the " Qu ...

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...

, T.I.,

Erykah Badu Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu (), is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Influenced by rhythm and blues, R&B, Soul music, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the ...

Lee Ritenour Lee Mack Ritenour ( ; born January 11, 1952) is an American jazz guitarist who has been active since the late 1960s. Biography Ritenour was born on January 11, 1952, in Los Angeles, California, United States. At the age of eight he started play ...

, and

Terri Lyne Carrington Terri Lyne Carrington (born August 4, 1965) is an American jazz drummer, composer, producer, and educator. She has played with Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Clark Terry, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Joe Sample, Al Jarreau, Yellowjackets, and ma ...

. In 2000, she released her first solo record, ''Intellipop''.

Discography

* ''Intellipop'' (2000) * ''RS2'' (2006) * Won't come back (2021) * Won't come back Remix featurin
TROY NoKA
(2022) with the New Power Generation * '' Newpower Soul'' - 1998

References

External links

Official website
Living people Canadian bass guitarists Women bass guitarists Musicians from Halifax, Nova Scotia Year of birth missing (living people) {{Canada-musician-stub