Education
King"s College London.
King"s College London.
In Gong, she often performed under the name Shakti Yoni contributing poems and space whispers. Smyth has three degrees from King"s College London, (the liner notes for Voiceprint"s "Mother Gong" Civil Defense suggests "London University") where she gained notoriety as the outspoken sub-editor of "Kings News", a college magazine. She co-founded Gong with Allen, an outfit that included musicians such as Steve Hillage, Pierre Moerlen and Didier Malherbe.
All of the songs on the albums Magick Brother and Continental Circus are listed as written or co-written by her.
In her spoken-word poetry, especially within Gong"s "Radio Gnome Invisible" Trilogy, she portrays a prostitute, a cat, a mother, a witch, and an old woman, and she has been known for wearing such costumes on stage. This became part of the cult mythology, which was written into sixteen albums that were produced.
Mother, her 1978 solo album, led to Smyth founding Mother Gong having left the original Gong band in 1975 to have children. Smyth appeared as a solo performer and lecturer at the Starwood Festival in 1992 and 1993.
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.