Robert Smith is the third of four children born to Alex and Rita Smith. His siblings are Richard, Margaret and Janet. Janet is married to Porl Thompson, the "second" guitarist of The Cure; he and Smith switch between playing lead and rhythm guitars.

Smith was raised as a Catholic and went to Notre Dame Middle School and St. Wilfrid's Comprehensive School in Crawley. He was an accomplished student who maintained high marks, but after he began playing guitar at the age of 11 his primary focus quickly became his music. He was influenced by The Beatles, Nick Drake, Jimi Hendrix, The Ink Spots and David Bowie. As a teenager, he held a benefit concert for a gay teacher who had been fired.

Smith met Mary Poole in school when he was 14 years old. They married in 1988. Smith wrote one of the Cure's signature compositions, "Lovesong", as a wedding present to his wife.

Smith helped popularize the "goth" style of dress with his trademark smeared red lipstick and messy black hair, black clothes, and sneakers, a look that he began sporting in the early 1980s. According to Siouxsie and the Banshees bassist Steven Severin, Smith first used Siouxsie Sioux's lipstick after using opium. However, Smith claims that he has worn make-up since he was young. He was also quoted as saying, "It's so pitiful when 'goth' is still tagged onto the name The Cure."[2]

His songwriting for the band's early albums - particularly Faith, Pornography, and the later album Disintegration - centered around themes of depression, loneliness, and isolation. The sombre mood of these early albums, along with Smith's onstage persona, cemented the band's "gothic" image.

The band's aesthetic went from gloomy to psychedelic beginning with the album The Top. In 1986, Smith further altered his image by appearing onstage and in press photos sporting short spiky hair and polo shirts (this can be seen in In Orange , a concert in the south of France released on video 1987).

Although Smith's public persona suggests a depressed image, he has said that his songs do not convey how he feels all, or even most, of the time.

Smith has written or co-written the bulk of The Cure's music and lyrics in a career spanning 30 years. When the Cure was first formed, Smith did not intend to become the lead vocalist; he only began singing after the original singer left and the group could not find a suitable vocalist. During the late 1970s and into the '80s, Smith composed some of The Cure's songs on a Hammond organ, and recorded a complete demo of the song "10:15 Saturday Night".

Smith is the only member of the band who has stayed on from the beginning. With Lol Tolhurst, he wrote songs such as singles "Lovecats," "Let's Go to Bed", and "The Walk". He also wrote the album The Top between stints as Siouxsie and the Banshees' guitarist. Smith has co-produced most of the band's material.

I could write songs as bad as Wham's if I really felt the urge to, but what's the point? (The Hit magazine 1985)

I don't think of death in a romantic way anymore. (L'Express newspaper 2000)

I honestly don't class myself as a songwriter. I've got 'musician' written on my passport. That's even funnier. (The Hit magazine 1985)

I wake up and look at myself and think, 'yuck!'. (MTV)

I've always spent more time with a smile on my face than not, but the thing is, I don't write about it. (Rolling Stone magazine 1997)

Most of the time I'm a professional idiot. I really don't care about what other people think, which can be a bad thing. (The Hit magazine 1985)

There is a reason for me always shoe-gazing. I simply can't look into the eyes of several thousand people. (Toronto Sun newspaper)

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