TV Smith, former frontman and songwriter of seminal UK punk band The Adverts, is seen as a cult legend by many fans of Britain's late 1970s New Wave scene. Tim Smith grew up in Devon where he developed an interest in poetry and, later - influenced by the records of Bowie and Roxy Music - songwriting. At art college, he met girlfriend and fellow Iggy and the Stooges devotee Gaye Black and in 1976 the couple moved to London after reading about the Sex Pistols in the music press with the aim of starting their own punk band.