G.E. Smith

Most of the millions of people who saw pony-tailed Smith play scorching guitar during a ten-year stint in The Saturday Night Live Band know only a fraction of a brilliant, multi-faceted talent. Musicians are far more familiar with him. The list of world-class players he has performed with is staggering -- Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Tina Turner, Hall & Oates, Eric Clapton, and David Bowie are only a portion.

G.e. (George Edward) was born in suburban Stroudsburg, PA., where he was playing guitar at four. For years, he's hung on to his first electric axe, a 1952 Telecaster made the year he was born. He vividly remembers Peter, Paul & Mary and Dylan's first album in 1963. Catching the legendary Odetta and Josh White at a taping of the TV show Hootenanny left a lasting impression. Not even shaving yet, he was supporting himself as a musician, playing high school dances and Poconos resorts, often with bandmates twice his age.Smith gravitated to the New Haven, CN., area and hooked up with The Scratch Band for some memorable club dates up and down the East Coast in the first half of the '70s. Dan Hartman gave Smith his first real break by hiring him to front his band for a lip-synch tour of Europe and the U.S. Back in the States, Smith headed for Manhattan and became the guitarist for Gilda Radner's 1979 Broadway show Gilda Live.

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