- Gilli Smyth
Gilli Smyth (born
June 1 , 1933) a musician who performed with the bands Gong,Mother Gong andPlanet Gong as well as several solo albums and albums in collaborations other members of Gong. [http://users.swing.be/gillismyth/discogr.html] In Gong, she often performed under the name Shakti Yoni contributing poems and "space whispers" [http://www.planetgong.co.uk/maze/blurbs/gilli.shtml] .Smyth has three degrees from
King's College London , where she gained notoriety as the outspoken sub-editor of "Kings News", a college magazine. After a brief spell teaching at theSorbonne (Paris) (where she became bilingual), she began doing performance poetry with well-known English jazz-rock groupSoft Machine , founded by her partner and long-time collaborator,Daevid Allen , in 1968 [http://www.planetgong.co.uk/maze/blurbs/gilli.shtml] .She co-founded Gong with Allen. Smyth was the only female voice in a line up of musicians later including
Steve Hillage ,Pierre Moerlen andDidier Malherbe and portrayed a prostitute, mother, witch and old woman [http://www.planetgong.co.uk/maze/blurbs/gilli.shtml] . This became part of the cult mythology, which was written into 16 albums that were produced. Gong developed into a family of bands, including Gongmaison and Mother Gong. "Mother", her 1979 solo album, led to Smyth founding Mother Gong having left the original Gong band in 1975 to have children.Mother Gong toured internationally in 1979-1981 and 1989-1991, either headlining or supporting such artists as
Bob Dylan andBig Brother and the Holding Company . Smyth appeared as a solo performer and lecturer at theStarwood Festival in the early 1990s. She has also done voice-overs for commercials, taped children's books and other books and poetry, given workshops on voice projection and voice as a confidence raiser, and has performed for many women's groups.Fact|date=February 2007External links
* [http://www.gillismyth.com/ Official Website]
* [http://www.planetgong.co.uk/maze/blurbs/gilli.shtml Bio on Planet Gong]
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