Craig Smart

A man of many identities, Canadian singer-songwriter Craig Scott Smart (born on May 1, 1972), also known as Yardi Don, started off rapping in the late 80s and rebranded himself as a 90s R&B crooner before lending his voice to a series of Eurodance club bangers in the early aughts. Smart’s first brush with success came in 1996 when he became the lead vocalist for Vancouver-based R&B collective D-Cru. The Outer World, the band’s studio debut, arrived in 1998 and spawned the hit singles “I Will Be Waiting” and “Show Me,” which peaked at Number 9 and 11 on the Canadian Singles Chart, respectively. Subsequently, Smart relocated to Europe and formed Eurodance outfit The Underdog Project with fellow Canadian artist Vic Krishna, DJ Frank, and AJ Duncan. Propelled by the Top 5 hit “Summer,” It Doesn’t Matter (2000), their first full-length, made it to Number 2 on the German Albums Chart and was released in the US a year later. The four-piece scored pan-European another hit with 2002’s “Saturday Night,” which peaked at Number 2 in Belgium and charted in countries like Denmark, France, and the Netherlands. In the following years, he collaborated with DJ Frank under the pseudonym Yardi Don on the 2006 hit “One Love, One World,” and had a charting single in Canada under the name “123” in 2011. In the wake of the new decade, Smart hit the charts once again with “Cause It’s Christmas,” an R&B-flavored tune that made it to the Top 50 in his home country.