Having written one track for the Pooh Sticks' Million Seller album, second-generation hippiechick Apollo Paula-Anne Scharf emerged from the wilds of Connecticut-via-NYC in 1991, and at the age of 22 headed to California to make a name for herself as Apollo Smile. Said name consisted of one appearance on the soundtrack of the film Days of Thunder, and one self-titled power-pop album in the loud and sunshiny tradition of the Beach Boys, the Archies, and the early Who, with extra touches of funk, soul, and electronica.

However, thanks to the early-nineties emergence of the Pacific Northwest angst-rock sound, the album (recorded under the guidance of producer Freddie "Jr." Richmond) failed to make a splash. After tooling around in SoCal and scoring a few minor acting gigs, she retreated to Upper Manhattan and spent the rest of the Nineties experimenting with her quirky power-pop stylings, which began gradually to show the increasing influence of hard rock and Japanese animation (at around the same time, she became a voice actress).

Two self-published albums were released on private label - Love Kisses + Grenades in 1998 and Wrecking Ball in 2000; between 1997 and 2001, she played (solo with backing, a la Howard Jones) a number of oddball gigs across the eastern and southern coasts of the USA. After a brief collaboration with Georgia-based band Rockbot and a few voice appearances in American cartoons, Apollo Smile disappeared off the face of the entertainment earth circa 2003. Where she has been since remains a mystery. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.