William D. Drake were reunited as The Sea Nymphs, a "gentler" version of Cardiacs; they had recorded before in 1984 and released a cassette album, Mr and Mrs Smith and Mr Drake. Smith also performed with Jo Spratley in Spratleys Japs, who released their album Pony in 1999. In March 2006, Smith toured with Ginger & The Sonic Circus as their support act, performing acoustic versions of Cardiacs' songs, along with his own material. Cardiacs released their only single of the 2000s, "Ditzy Scene", in 2007. Illness: 2008–2020 On 25 June 2008, Smith had a heart attack after attending a gig by My Bloody Valentine which caused brain damage through hypoxia and led him to develop the rare neurological condition dystonia. In 2013, 2015 and 2017, events dubbed The Alphabet Business Convention were held in celebration of and with all proceeds funding Smith and his ongoing recovery. Among other things, they featured live music from bands within the Cardiacs' circle. In July 2016, a special one-day concert took place in Preston, called The Whole World Window with all the funds going towards helping Smith get better. A cassette and CD album of the same name were also released via Hyena Inc containing performances by the same bands. In January 2018 an appeal was launched on the crowdfunding website JustGiving with the aim of raising £40,000 to fund Smith's ongoing care. The target amount was exceeded in the first day and a new target of £100,000 was set to provide for a year's care. On 25 October 2018, Smith received the honorary degree of Doctor of Music from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. His brother Jim accepted the honour on his behalf. Death: 21 July 2020 Smith died on the evening of 21 July 2020 at the age of 59, following another heart attack. His death was announced by his brother and bandmate Jim Smith and bandmate Kavus Torabi. Musicians including Steven Wilson, Mike Patton, Graham Coxon and Dave Rowntree of Blur paid tribute to Smith. Work as producer and video director Smith owned and operated his own recording studio Apollo 8 (at various locations, with the final one being near Salisbury, Wiltshire) and had a long list of production credits to his name. Since the early 1990s, Smith produced recordings for a variety of musicians and musical groups, many of whom belong to the so-called "Cardiacs family". These include Levitation,