Derek Albion Smalls (born 1941) is a fictional character played by Harry Shearer. He is the bassist for mock rock group Spinal Tap. He co-starred in the hit spoof rockumentary This is Spinal Tap with guitarists Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) and David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), as well as with a plethora of drummers and keyboardists.
Derek grew up in Nilford, England, and was the son of Donald "Duff" Smalls, who ran a marginally successful t...
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Derek Albion Smalls (born 1941) is a fictional character played by Harry Shearer. He is the bassist for mock rock group Spinal Tap. He co-starred in the hit spoof rockumentary This is Spinal Tap with guitarists Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) and David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), as well as with a plethora of drummers and keyboardists.
Derek grew up in Nilford, England, and was the son of Donald "Duff" Smalls, who ran a marginally successful telephone sanitization business, "Sani-Fone". He joined Spinal Tap in 1967 after the departure of bassist Ronnie Pudding.
Derek described the turbulent relationship of bandmates David St. Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel as "fire and ice". He preferred to find a happy medium as "lukewarm water". He still enjoys his burl-wood pipe on occasion and continues to enhance the fit of his trousers with a strategically placed foil-wrapped zucchini, despite an embarrassing incident passing through a metal detector at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport during...
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