The “Golden Hits Of The 70s” 

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REX SMITH

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“YOU TAKE MY BREATH AWAY”

(Bobby Hart, Stephen Lawrence)

Columbia 10908

No. 10   June 23, 1979

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Rex Smith was born on September 19, 1956, in Jack­sonville, Florida.   After a series of moves, Rex’s family

settled in Atlanta.   He played in bands (as did his older brother, Michael Lee Smith of Starz) and got

involved in amateur theater productions.

In the mid-’70s, Smith moved to the Big Apple to give up rock music and become an actor.   Before these

dreams firmed up, David Krebs and Steve Leber, a cou­ple of hot-shot music managers, convinced Rex to

front a hard-rock combo comprising Lou Van Dora (guitar), Lars Hansen (guitar), Mike Ratti (drums),

and Orville Davis, formerly of the Capricorn recording act Hydra.   Krebs and Leber called the boys Rex.

Two albums’ worth of raunchies were issued by Columbia Records, but sales were near nil, despite the

photos of would-be teen heartthrob Smith on the LP covers.

In 1979, Rex landed the lead in “Sooner or Later,” a made-for-TV movie about a rock star who lusts for a

pre-teen fan.   “You Take My Breath Away,” from the soundtrack, was shipped as Rex’s first solo side.   The

album and the single clicked, but aside from “Everlast­ing Love” (#32, 1981), a one-off duet with Stiff

Records’ act Rachel Sweet, Rex’s chart-topping days were over.

For a season (1981-1982), Rex was Andy Gibb’s replacement as co-host, with Marilyn McCoo, of TV’s “Solid

Gold,” then starred in a short-lived series, “Street Hawk.”   The two-month series was so named for the

super-charged cycle Smith rode often at speeds of 300 miles an hour.  What?

In the late ’80s, Rex appeared in the cast of the CBS­ TV soap opera “As the World Turns.”   Smith

performed in, and sang the title tune to, Headin‘ for Broadway (1980), and also starred in the Broadway

and East Coast productions of Grease.   With Linda Ronstadt and Kevin Kline, he worked in both the

Broadway and film renditions of The Pirates ofPenzance (1983).