Scott Smith

Who was Scott Smith?

Donald Scott Smith, born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, was the bassist for the Canadian rock band Loverboy, best known for their hit singles "Working for the Weekend" and "Turn Me Loose", although their U.S. Top Ten hits were "Lovin' Every Minute of It" in 1985 and "This Could Be the Night" in 1986. The band won six Juno Awards in 1982. Loverboy sold over 23 million records.

Smith originally studied guitar, and at the age of twelve moved to bass. He was majoring in English at the University of Manitoba when he received a call from Paul Dean in Vancouver inviting him to join the band known today as Loverboy.

After Loverboy disbanded in 1988, Smith was part of the band Dangerous, along with Mike Reno and Brian MacLeod. He also worked as a late-night radio DJ at CFOX, albeit briefly. Loverboy got back together for a benefit concert in 1991, and then reunited in 1993 and continued touring through the 1990s. Smith said in an interview, "We're back because we like to rock and simply because promoters want to book us."

On November 30, 2000, he was sailing his boat, the 11-metre Sea Major, with two friends off the coast of San Francisco near the Golden Gate Bridge, when a freak 8-metre wave swept him overboard in shark-infested waters. A Coast Guard search, and then one by a private company hired by friends and family, ended in vain. Experts say Smith could not have survived more than two and a half hours in waters that cold. He was 45. The band toured in his memory the following year.