Jimmy Smyth ...
Born Navan, Co. Meath, Ireland. Jimmy comes from a large musical family; his father was a prominent musician and later a teacher, sisters and brothers all played music, some professionally. In fact, Jimmy's younger brother Tony was the drummer latterly with Jimmy's band, "The Bogey Boys", playing on the last two singles the band recorded ("Obituary" was the title of one of them, appropriately enough..)
	Jimmy started playing piano and trumpet at 5 years old, joining the local brass band at age seven. Made his first national TV appearance at nine years old ,singing a "Clancy Bros." tune... enough,already,you might say...
Devoted himself to the study of guitar at age 10, listening to a wide range of musics -- American blues, Glam rock, C&W, Western swing, Irish traditional -- resulting in Jimmy developing an eclectic style early in his career. Bought "The World of Blues Power" (featuring "Champion" Jack Dupree, Peter Green, Savoy Brown, etc. and, in the same week, "Country Line Special" by Cyril Davies, a little known UK blues artist, resulting in an epiphany for the young J.S. Became passionate about blues, particularly the British Blues Boom of the late 60's/early 70's, and spent the next few years fervently studying the idiom in his bedroom. Became aware, largely through magazines like "Guitar Player" (available only by mail order at the time) and "New Musical Express", of artists like Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, et al, although it was by and large impossible to get hold of many of their recordings because of Ireland's infatuation with "Showbands" (local groups dedicated to emulating the sound of successful overseas artists, a forerunner of the "Tribute" bands of today), few record stores stocked anything other than what was played on the radio which, with one National Station at the time, was dismal.
	... "Thin Lizzy" ...
	The burgeoning rock music boom of the early seventies was an inspiration, with Irish bands like "Thin Lizzy", Rory Gallagher, and "Horslips", all making inroads abroad, making for an exciting time for Irish music. Jimmy formed his first band while still at school, playing locally (although none of the band were old enough to get into the venues where they played!). Jimmy's band opened up for all the visiting bands, including the aforementioned "Thin Lizzy", where Jimmy first met one of his early heroes, Philip Lynott. Those early encounters so impressed Lynott that he offered Jimmy the job as guitarist with "Thin Lizzy" some years later, which Jimmy reluctantly turned down, the offer coinciding with the release of his band's ("The Bogey Boys") debut record. At this time, Jimmy also played with Frankie Miller, (legendary Scottish singer) who was in Ireland with a band called "Bees Make Honey".
At fifteen, Jimmy left school. Committed to dedicating his life to music, he took a job with one of the aforementioned showbands, "The Big Valley". (They all had names derived from erstwhile popular US TV-shows!) It got Jimmy noticed and allowed him to get experience with playing in the UK, Scotland, and Germany. After spending a year and a half on the road, Jimmy left and moved to London. In no hurry to get into a "serious" band and wanting to get some "real-life" experience, Jimmy and a friend hitchhiked across Europe. After spending time in Greece, Jimmy decided it was time to return to Ireland.
	Joined well-known saxophonist Paddy Cole's band on his return and spent the next two years touring Ireland, UK, Germany, USA, and Canada.
Started doing more and more session work in Dublin, which had a thriving recording scene, working with most of the big names in the Irish Recording Industry.
	... "The Bogey Boys" ...
	Formed "The Bogey Boys" in 1979 with Doish Nagle on bass and Paul Moran on drums (later of "Clannad" and "Riverdance" fame). Signed to Chrysalis Records shortly after forming and set about recording our first album with Leo Lyons (formerly of "Ten Years After") producing. Around this time, "The Bogey Boys toured non-stop, doing gigs with Rory Gallagher, Frankie Miller, "Rockpile", "Judas Priest", and many other big names of the time. Released two albums: "Friday Night" and "Jimmy Did It" along with four singles, all of which charted in Ireland.
While touring the US in 1984, "The Bogey Boys" effectively broke up. With Jimmy believing they were a "spent force", he decided to stay on in America and have a look at American music firsthand. Lived in Detroit for a time, during which Jimmy played on studio sessions for a lot of the big local names, formed a new band, "The Cry", and set about getting another record deal. Toured incessantly in mid/late eighties with "The Romantics", "Nazareth", "Quiet Riot", and "Poison", to name a few. Signed to Epic Records, but were to break up before any fruit of the deal was to manifest. Jimmy broke the band up, unhappy with the inactivity of the label. Upon getting a call from well-known guitarist Vivian Campbell ("Whitesnake", "Def Leppard"), Jimmy moved to Los Angeles to replace Vivian in a three-piece band called "Trinity". Jimmy felt comfortable back in a three-piece environment for a short time only and started working locally with lots of different musicians in the LA area, including Bobby King/Terry Evans, Eddie Greene, Lou Castro, and even had a short stint as a member of the legendary "BoxTops"! (The Letter, I'm Your Puppet).
	... Toni Childs ...
	Joined Toni Childs in 1989, accompanying her on several World Tours, supporting her "Union" and "House Of Hope" albums. Toured the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand (where Jimmy had a chance to play with the great Stevie Ray Vaughan). Did the Grammy Awards with Toni in '90 as well as touring the States' opening for Bob Dylan.
Tiring of the Southern California lifestyle, Jimmy decided to return to Ireland in the early 1990's. Back in Dublin, he immediately settled into a very busy time as a much in-demand session player. Had a brief tenure with the legendary curmudgeon Van Morrison (who hasn't?!?) before writing the very successful "The Woman's Boat album with Toni Childs. The album was recorded in Real World Studios in Bath, and featured Peter Gabriel, Robert Fripp, Nusret Fatah Ali Khan, amongst others. It spent eleven weeks at the top of the album charts in Australia, and features Jimmy on bass, keyboards, and vocals, as well as, of course, guitar.
	Jimmy once again toured America in support of the album with a stellar band, featuring Trey Gunn, John Thomas, and the legendary Rick Marotta on drums.
..."The Spirit Of Eden" ...
On returning to Ireland, Jimmy signed with Paul McGuinness' Celtic Heartbeat Label and set about work on his "The Spirit Of Eden" debut album (chronicled elsewhere). "The Sun And The Moon And The Stars" was released in February 1998 to much critical acclaim, ending a very busy year for Jimmy, as he also produced well-known singer Bonnie Tyler's album "All In One Voice" during the same period.
	Since returning to Ireland, Jimmy has also found time to play with Paul Brady, Moving Hearts, Davy Spillane, Donna Lewis, Daniel O'Donnell, Boyzone, Bill Whelan, Westlife,Lisa Stansfield,Reba McIntyre among,as they say,others.
In 2000,Jimmy wrote and recorded much of the incidental music for the major motion picture When The Sky Falls which was released Worldwide.
	He is currently writing "The Spirit Of Eden"'s second album in his own studio (Full Moon Studios), as well as being involved as producer on numerous upcoming projects. May 3rd,2001,sees the release of Deep6's debut album, Undercover, recorded by Jimmy at his home studio.Its his first foray in some time into Guitar/Blues/Rock genre,and is greatly anticipated..Jimmy has just completed the original score for the movie "Silent Grace" which was shown at Cannes 2001,it's produced by Irish Screen and directed by Maeve Murphy...
He is married to well-known singer Jenny Newman and they have one daughter, Ruby, aged five.

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