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Rob's father is singer Houston Wells who in 1963 had a hit record with "Only The Heartaches", reaching number 18 on the UK charts, with his band The Marksmen.

"Only The Heartaches" stayed in the UK charts for 6 weeks, and reached number 7 in the Irish charts, and stayed in the Irish charts for 10 weeks.

Through the 60's and 70's Houston Wells also sang for several other bands in the UK The Masters, The Outlaws (which featured none other than Ritchie Blackmore as the lead guitarist) and in Ireland The Premier Aces, The Trident Showband.

During his time in the UK and Ireland, Houston Wells worked with such artists as Ritchie Blackmore (The Outlaws, Deep Purple, Rainbow, Blackmores Night), Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin, The Firm), Big Jim Sullivan (Tom Jones' guitarist), Mick Underwood (The Outlaws/Quartermass, Gillan, Peace), The Benny Hill Singers and Chas Hodges (The Outlaws/Chas & Dave). His producer in his early days was none other than the producing pioneer Joe Meek, as well as that he has worked with Shel Talmy who was the producer of Houston Wells & The Premier Aces, having also produced The Kinks, The Easybeats, The Who

International tours with such artists as Jim Reeves, Hank Locklin, The Beatles and Roy Orbison are testament to the talents of Houston Wells as the UK's first professional country and western star.

Recent years have seen Houston Wells recording new material, both with a host of session musicians, as well as with his son Rob. When you finally get your hands upon a collection of the modern works from this true legend of the UK and Ireland music scene's you will be astounded at his versatility, you will marvel at how well he has managed to reinvent himself without ever losing the knack of bringing out the beauty of the written lyric. What you will also hear is the legacy of a talented family, for Rob has added his own influence to the recordings he has made with his father in an effort to bring new and inspired vision to some old favourites and some brilliant original recordings. Rob's 2 teenage daughters Catherine and Laura are both beautiful singers, they have accompanied their father and grandfather in their home studio (as well as having written their own material).

Rob's wife Carol is also a magical singer, someone inspired by both the music of past era's as well as modern New Zealand music. Carol Smith has also the lead vocalist for one of Rob's former live bands Crazy Paving

Rob's brother Tim and sister-in-law Zoe are members of a very talented band, Six Foot Children that perform and record in the UK. Check out the bands site by clicking on the logo below:

Robs sister Linda was also a lovely singer, she was able to sing the most beautiful Irish laments.

Robs brother Martin who was lead singer for a time with Deep Image, has a great voice and plays the acoustic guitar. His son Daniel plays the guitar, and writes his own songs, a star in the making maybe ?

Rob has another brother Phil who plays the bass and acoustic guitar, he also carries on the Smith tradition of having a great voice. Phil was a member of Rob's former band The Candles

Rob's first solo album entitled "Be Careful What You Wish For" was released in 2005. This is a collection of some of Rob's recordings, taken from a catalogue of over 600 original songs.

Rob continues to write and record new solo material, so with that in mind the 2nd solo album "Actions Speak Louder Than Words" was released in 2006, and is available to order through this website.

Always inspired to try different types of songwriting, Rob is at the moment working on future collections of full on rock numbers, acoustic music, blues music.

Rob has recorded and produced a collection of songs with his father Houston Wells , one of the classic remakes is a song called "Lonely Street" that features Rob's daughters Laura and Catherine on backing vocals. This collection of songs with Houston Wells is called "Then & Now: From Joe Meek To New Zealand", and was released via Jasmine Records.