Kevin Gullifer Hopkins-Smith (born Kevin Gullifer Smith; c. 1950
– November 2014), who performed as Little Gulliver and Gulliver Smith (also styled as Gullifer Smith), was an Australian singer and songwriter from the early 1960s to mid-2000s. He was the front man and founding mainstay vocalist of Company Caine. In 1976 he and Ross Wilson co-wrote "A Touch of Paradise" for Wilson's group, Mondo Rock, which appeared on their third album, Nuovo Mondo (July 1982). It was covered by John Farnham on his album, Whispering Jack (October 1986), and was issued as its third single in February 1987, which reached the top 30 on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart.
Gulliver Smith died on 12 November 2014 from kidney failure, and was survived by his wife Stephanie Hopkins-Smith (née Hopkins) and their three sons. According to Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, "Smith drew on vintage rock'n'roll, Professor Longhair-styled New Orleans R&B, psychedelia and soul for inspiration. He was known for his outrageous stage act, which incorporated an inventive free-form approach and much evangelist-styled ad-libbing. Later on, he added a satirical Zappaesque component to his on-stage banter and lyrics."
Biography
Kevin Gullifer Smith (later Kevin Gullifer Hopkins-Smith) was born in the 1950s and was a child performer in the early 1960s in Melbourne, covering tracks by artists from the previous decade. Occasionally he was a guest singer for local bands, the Thunderbirds and the Lincolns. Smith remembered his early performances "I remember listening to gospel records where people would start preaching in the middle of the song. A lot of soul music would have the guys interrupt the singing to talk about their broken heart, so that gave me the idea. I used to imitate Johnny Ray when I was nine or ten. He used to cry on stage."
In 1965 he fronted Little Gulliver and the Children, a R&B and soul band, on lead vocals with Ian McCausland on guitar and Lawrie Byrnes on drums. Smith explained "my manager changed my name from the original spelling of Gullifer, which is Welsh, to Gulliver." They issued two singles, "Short Fat Fannie" (cover version of Larry William's 1957 single) in September, and "No Money Down" (1955 original by Chuck Berry) in March 1966. A self-titled extended play appeared in September 1966. Smith would interrupt live performances of songs to deliver a monologue, "some little vignette that was quite unrelated."
Late in 1966 the group disbanded and Smith relocated to Sydney: the group was not getting enough work and Smith explained "I used to do the TV show Its all Happening quite a bit in Sydney and one time I just decided to stay here." From the EP their track, "I Was Bewitched", later appeared on a various artists compilation album, Pretty Ugly (1998).
In Sydney in 1967 Smith joined Dr Kandy's Third Eye, a psychedelic soul, R&B band, with Mal Capewell on saxophone, Arthur Eizenberg on bass guitar, Zane Hudson on saxophone, Dave Kain on guitar (ex-Untamed), Alison McCallum on co-lead vocals, Daryl McKenzie on drums, Kevin Patterson on trumpet and Bob Walsh on organ. Smith realised "I had gone past the soul and blues area by that time and I wanted to be more creative and write more." They did not release any recordings, although Smith co-wrote tracks for the group, including "The Day Superman Got Busted". Kain later described the band to The Canberra Times Michael Foster as "well-known and successful at the time of the psychedelic movement" and of his "being made very aware by jazz musicians, experimentation with drugs."
In 1968 Smith was fired from Dr Kandy's Third Eye and formed a jazz-blues ensemble, Noyes, with Bobby Gebert on piano, John Helman on bass guitar, Mick Lieber on guitar (ex-Python Lee Jackson) and Dave Ovenden on drums. When Helman and Lieber left, Smith and Ovenden enlisted Kain and Terry Wilkins on bass guitar to create a free-form, soul band, Time and the Forest Flower. In early 1969, after McKenzie and a horn section joined, they were renamed as A Love Supreme, but Smith left in mid-year to return to Melbourne. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, felt their "radical fusion of jazz, rock and blues never really gelled."
In March 1970 Smith formed Company Caine with Ray Arnott on drums (ex-Chelsea Set, Browns, Cam-Pact), Cliff Edwards on bass guitar (ex-Cam-Pact), Jeremy Noone (aka Jeremy Kellock) on saxophone and keyboards (ex-Leo and Friends) and Russell Smith (no relation: born Russell Kinross-Smith) on guitar and vocals (ex-Cam-Pact).