Gary “Skillet” Smith is Drummer/ Music Director/ Producer from Springfield MA. He has shared his gift and talents professionally in genre such as R&B, Hiphop, Neo Soul, and Gospel. He began playing drums at the young age of four by banging on anything he could find. His grandparents bought him his first toy drumset and soon after he started playing beats and rhythms. He would play for hours in the basement of his grandparents home as well as make beats and rhythms on anything he could find. After his mother noticed his skills she enrolled him into taking lessons with Kevin Sharpe, and jazz drummer Billy Arnold. Gary attended the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts public charter school. (PVPA) Spring of 2007 he played percussion in his first musical “Little Shop of Horror” musical directed by Mitch Chakour. That same year Gary composed and perform the senior class finale song “Making it to the top.” Spring of 2008 Gary co founded the band “Malado!” With Malado he has won back to back Umass Amherst battle of the bands competitions in the Spring of 2009 and 2010. Malado went on to open up the the spring concert both years. With Malado Gary finished as a top three finalist on VH1’s Make A Band Famous. He has played venues opening up for those such as Lupe Fiasco, Ludacris, All Time Low, Girl Talk, Wiz Khalifa, Big Sean, Curren$y, Tyga, Wyclef Jean, and many more. He formerly played for Michelle Brooks-Thompson (The Voice), and Currently plays drums and music directs for hip hop artist ANoyd. Spring of 2019 Gary served as drummer and band coordinator for the MaPeach musical production of Dream Girls in Hartford CT. Both nights of the musical sold out and given great reviews followed by encore shows. Between Malado and Independent work Gary will continue to remain active throughout the year!
