Career
Smith was interviewed for the 1995 book Never Mind the Bollocks: Women Rewrite Rock by Amy Raphael (published in the United States as Grrrls: Viva Rock Divas). She was also interviewed and quoted for the book Frock Rock: Women Performing Popular Music, a sociological study of women musicians in British popular music At the time of the interview she was in Echobelly, and the book notes that Skin and Yolanda Charles both said that Smith was the only current black British female guitarist either one of them could think of.
Frock Rock says that "women like Skin, Natacha Atlas, Yolanda Charles, Mary Genis, and Debbie Smith are now acting as crucial role models for future generations of black women."
In 1997, Debbie Smith was the subject of the third episode of a television series with the blanket title "A Woman Called Smith" (first broadcast on BBC2, 9 April 1997).
Smith is a lesbian. As of 2012, she continues to perform as guitarist and DJ, and works at London music shop Intoxica! Records.