Brian Smith (born January 3, 1939) grew up in a farming family near Toko, on State Highway 43 (“The Forgotten World Highway”). Leaving school at 16, he worked the farm and played clarinet and saxophone in Taranaki dance bands before arriving in Auckland in 1958, just as things were picking up on the teenage scene. He was soon playing in the Bob Paris Combo at the Jive Centre. When Paris crossed the Tasman in January 1960, Smith went too.