Shawn Smith

Shawn Smith (born 28 October 1965) is a Seattle-based songwriter, vocalist and musician in several bands (Brad, Satchel, Pigeonhed) and also as a solo artist.He was born in Spokane, Washington. Smith has cited Freddie Mercury, Prince and KISS as early influences.Other influences he has noted are Steven Tyler, Bon Scott, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Andy Wood and Chris Cornell. In 2005, Smith unveiled a musical project called "The Diamond Hand" involving many musicians.He also has worked with Thaddeus Turner (formerly of Maktub and many other projects including Brad) under the name Forever Breakers. "From the North" is Shawn's newest band with core members of Malfunkshun (Regan Hagar, Kevin Wood, Cory Kane) and the lyrics left by the late Andrew Wood.Since 2006, the band has also been billed as "Power of Wings" and "Von Nord" (allegedly meaning "From the North" in German; whereas this actually reads "vom Norden" or "aus dem Norden").Hagar has since been replaced by Seattle drummer Mike Hommel.The band changed its name in July 2008 to All Hail the Crown and plans to release new music under this banner.