Born into a large musical family in the UK, Nat aka. Ralph Leslie Smith learned to play a plethora of musical instruments to a basic standard in order to join the regular family Jam sessions. Like many working musicians before him, Nat abandoned Art school to join a touring rock band. During the late 1970s he played keyboards with "The News" and then later in the early 1980s he joined, post punk band, "The Gents". In more recent times, Nat founded and ran "The Ohm Session (originally called A Dose of Love) hosting, playing and engineering open sessions in London and the West Country until In 2021, he moved to Canada.

In addition to his music exploits, Nat has also enjoyed a very long and successful career as an actor, entertainer and cabaret performer, with hundreds of international Stage, Screen and festival credits.