Jared Smith

Who is Jared Smith?

Jared Smith is an American amateur singer specializing in Spanish. His singing career achieved some attention in the mid-1990s when his brothers Colin and Ian of Freeverse Software combined a recording of his singing with an animated smiley face. The resulting program was intended to be their mother's birthday gift.

The two brothers later sent the singing software to their friends, who subsequently passed it to their own friends. The software, known as "Jared: the Butcher of Song," became a cult hit because his version of "Luna de Xelajú". "Jared" is playable on Mac OS and Microsoft Windows personal computers, as well as the iPhone.

Over the following couple of years, Jared and Freeverse published several other versions of the program featuring different songs, including a Christmas song which featured the line in Spanish "Feliz Navidad en mis pantalones". A Jared song is also often hidden in Freeverse's Burning Monkey Solitaire series, most usually found by clicking on the gorilla in the "audience".

Jared's animated avatar appeared in a 1998 commercial for Blockbuster Video, and has also been included in the credits for Macromedia Director. He also appears as a boss character in Freeverse's action shooter game Kill Monty.