‘I’ll always miss him’
Robbie Smith’s life celebrated in emotional memorial service
Colourful, brightly-patterned shirts – much like those Robbie Smith loved and wore – and music, lots of it, marked a memorial service held for Smith on Aug. 4.
In an emotional, hour-long tribute, around 250 family members, friends and fellow musicians packed the Shelburne Community Centre to reflect on the impact Smith had on their lives.
Smith, a multi-talented singer, songwriter and instrumentalist who played guitar, banjo, mandolin, ukulele, violin and viola, died of a rare form of liver cancer on Feb. 27, 2019, only two months after he was diagnosed. He was 64.
Kathleen Glauser hosted the Aug. 4 memorial service, which traced Smith’s career from a promising young solo artist to his partnership with Glauser in the popular folk duo, Naming the Twins.
Glauser read a thank-you note she wrote to Smith, recalling her introduction to his music.
“I will never forget the first time I heard you sing some of your original songs at a jam session. My jaw dropped, and I sat in awe and wonder, thinking, ‘What the heck are you doing here in Shelburne … hanging out with common folk like us? Why aren’t you out touring the world with these beautiful songs?’”
‘TOUCHED MANY LIVES’
“Robbie never got famous,” said
Jay Pilzer, greeting everyone in attendance. “We know that. But if you look out here today, I think you can see that Robbie touched so many lives. Without fame, without people screaming, he made us all feel something. So much so that we wanted to take this beautiful day and come and remember this beautiful life.”
As revealed in some of the documentary footage screened during the service, Smith didn’t care much for fame and fortune.
“If I ever do get to the point where I’m rich or famous, I think I might be feeling a little bit sad, really,” he said. “Because what I have now, I feel, is riches that you can’t buy.”
Musicians performed several of Smith’s songs – including “Somedays,” “Sweetly Weak,” “Skippers & Mates,” “Dry Land” and “The Last Song” – throughout the Aug. 4 service.
The performers included Bob Vacon, Frank Jenkins, Jessica Jurgenliemk, Clara Jurgenliemk, Shelley Meisner, Chris Churchill, Jon Stone, Margo Carruthers, Jay Perry, Vince Morash, Mike Elliott, Matt Swim, Tom Barnwell, Rod Mossman, Merrie Howe, Hank Middleton, Jude Pelley and Glauser.
Alex Buchanan introduced “Part of the Song,” an audio recording of a song he and Smith had collaborated on, slowly building and polishing the recorded vocals and instrumentation from 2011 until after Smith was hospitalized.
“When Robbie went into the hospital last winter, I went back and listened to the song, and to my amazement, it was basically done. He gave me a bit more guidance from afar and (suggested) vocals that he thought I should sing, and I spent some time mixing it down in the studio.”
The song is autobiographical for Smith, reflecting the role music played in his life.
“I’ll always miss him,” Buchanan said. “But as you’ll hear him say in his lyrics, ‘The ending is part of the song.’”
Other speakers, besides Glauser, Buchanan and Pilzer, included
Pat Nickerson, Chris Churchill (reading words by Robbie Smith’s cousin, David Dings), Robbie Smith’s uncle, Carl Smith, Bob Book, Robbie Smith’s brother, Jason Prazak, Rich Warren (via audio), Paul Mills (via video) and Peter Healy.
ABOUT ROBBIE
Born in Manhattan, N.Y., Smith came from a musical family. His mother, a classically trained opera singer, taught music in Lockeport after she, Robbie and her family moved from Montreal to Jordan
Bay, in Shelburne County, in the late 1960s.
From a young age, Smith was keen to record his songs, but living without electricity in the Smith family’s “Round House” presented challenges. He learned to improvise, starting with a battery-powered cassette recorder and working his way up to more sophisticated studio recording equipment and techniques.
Smith’s solo career got a boost when British singer-songwriter Roger Whittaker recorded four of his songs – including “The Last Song” – in the late 1970s. The memorial service featured CBC video footage of a young Smith performing onstage with Whittaker.
Smith continued writing songs and performing, both on his own and with other bands. But it wasn’t until 2008, when Smith joined forces with Glauser, that his music finally gained exposure with a wider audience.
Glauser and Smith recorded four full-length albums and toured extensively throughout Canada and the United States during their 11-year career together. They had just wrapped up one tour, and were about to embark on another tour of the U.S. eastern seaboard, when Smith received the devastating news of his diagnosis.
Fighting back tears, Glauser finished her Aug. 4 thank-you letter with a pledge to Smith.
“My musical twin, we lived more in those 11 years than a lot of people live in a lifetime. Rest assured, I will keep on singing. Your songs will not be forgotten. Thank you, Robbie, for enriching my life, beyond measure.”