{"id":37111,"date":"2026-02-09T01:01:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T01:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/?p=37111"},"modified":"2026-02-09T01:01:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T01:01:27","slug":"blondie-bassist-fred-smith-dies-aged-77-after-long-illness-as-heartbroken-bandmate-pays-tribute-to-true-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/?p=37111","title":{"rendered":"Blondie bassist Fred Smith dies aged 77 after long illness as heartbroken bandmate pays tribute to &#8216;true friend&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fred Smith, the influential bassist best known for his work with New York art-punk pioneers <strong>Television<\/strong> (and as an early member of <strong>Blondie<\/strong>), has died at <strong>77<\/strong> following a long illness. His passing was confirmed on <strong>Thursday, February 5, 2026<\/strong>, with longtime collaborator and guitarist <strong>Jimmy Rip<\/strong> sharing that Smith had been fighting health issues for years. While headlines often spotlight front people, Smith\u2019s reputation was built on the kind of musicianship that holds a song together without demanding attention\u2014melodic, steady, and unmistakably his.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Rip\u2019s tribute, he remembered Smith not only as a bandmate of decades, but as a \u201ctrue friend,\u201d praising his dry humor, his reliability on the road, and the way his bass lines served the music rather than his ego. It\u2019s a reminder that the most essential artists are sometimes the least flashy: they shape the feeling of a track, the mood of a live show, and the trust inside a band. Smith\u2019s death leaves a quiet space behind\u2014one filled with the echoes of songs he helped build, and the respect of people who knew that greatness isn\u2019t always loud.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fred Smith, the influential bassist best known for his work with New York art-punk pioneers Television (and as an early member of Blondie), has died at 77&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":37112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"views":271,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37111"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37113,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37111\/revisions\/37113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}