1963–1966: the Good Time Singers In August 1963 Smith was recruited by
Michael Storm and Tom Drake (who had performed together as the Other Singers) to join the Good Time Singers, a band formed to replace
the New Christy Minstrels on
The Andy Williams Show. From December 1963 to January 1964 Smith and Storm also performed shows with
Gordon and
Sheila MacRae, supported by their daughters
Heather and
Meredith. The Good Time Singers released their debut self-titled album in January 1964, and their second album
One Step More in October 1964. In between the albums they had embarked on a 17-city tour. Around this time Smith began songwriting, and he wrote a song called "Christmas Holiday", which was recorded by
Andy Williams for his 1965 album
Merry Christmas. As the Good Times Singers' was ending, Smith and fellow bandmember Lee Montgomery intended to form a new duo called Craig & Lee, but Smith had to pull out after successfully auditioning for a new ABC television show, called
The Happeners. Smith had previously unsuccessfully auditioned for
The Monkees. The pilot for
The Happeners was filmed in November 1965. The Good Times Singers' contract for
The Andy Williams Show was not renewed past 1966.
1966–1967: The Happeners and Chris & Craig After a successful audition process, Smith won the role of Alan Howard on
The Happeners. and was a mix of acting and singing, set in New York and based on the fictional eponymous folk trio. However, ABC declined to pick up the show following the pilot episode. Smith and his
The Happeners co-star Chris Ducey decided to form a musical duo called Chris & Craig. They moved into an apartment together and began writing songs. They signed to
Capitol Records, recording a number of demos throughout the summer of 1966. Their first single, "Isha", was written by Ducey b/w "I Need You" written by Smith, and was produced by
Steve Douglas utilizing session musicians
Hal Blaine and
Carol Kaye of
The Wrecking Crew. It was released in July 1966. and in November 1966 they played a show supporting
the Mothers of Invention with such a full band, with Smith and Ducey playing electric guitars. Throughout late 1966 and early 1967 the duo continued to write and record more songs, but they were never released by the label. In early 1967 Chris & Craig began playing with a permanent backing band. Through their friendship with
Michael Nesmith of the Monkees, they hired
Jerry Perenchio as their manager. They changed their name to the Penny Arcade, shortly becoming the Penny Arkade for trademark reasons. They were eventually replaced by
Donald F. Glut on bass (who had appeared in an earlier incarnation of the band) and Bobby Donaho on drums. While the band worked on their own material, Smith continued to write songs, including "Salesman" for the Monkees, and "Hands of the Clock" and "Lazy Sunny Day" for Heather MacRae. Smith was also credited as co-producer for the songs, alongside
Bob Thiele. He also wrote "
Holly" for Williams. Nesmith took the band into a studio to record their album. One of the songs written at this time by Smith was "Country Girl", which was later recorded and released by
Glen Campbell for his
Try a Little Kindness album. The album never materialised, but some of the songs were collected and released as
Not the Freeze in 2004. After a bad review of one of their live shows, the band decided to concentrate on writing and recording songs. In early 1968 they unsuccessfully auditioned for the role of house band on the TV show
Peyton Place. In February 1968 Smith and his father went into business together, running a bar called the Buckeye Inn. In late 1968 Smith was associating with the
Manson Family, and exploring an interest in Eastern philosophy, particularly
Transcendental Meditation. Smith eventually left the Penny Arkade and decided to go travelling. The band continued without Smith until 1969, renamed as the Armadillo and with Bob Arthur as a replacement guitarist.
1968: travelling to Asia After previously smoking small amounts of
marijuana with friends, Smith began using
LSD in 1968. and he smoked "copious amounts of
hashish" while in Afghanistan. Smith decided to travel to India alone, with just a guitar and a backpack. He set off to join the
hippie trail, arriving in Turkey in October 1968, possibly via Austria and Greece. Smith met fellow Western travellers (an Irishman and two American women) in
Istanbul, and they set off together in a VW van, intending to drive to Delhi. After the van broke down, they hitched a ride in a lorry transporting olive oil, before taking a bus to Iran. They passed through Afghanistan, It later became apparent that after threatening a market vendor, Smith had been beaten close to death and robbed, and possibly kidnapped and raped. Smith possibly spent some time in an Afghan insane asylum, where he is thought to have developed acute
schizophrenia. It is not known if Smith ever reached India, although he and his travelogue claims he did visit India and reconnected with the Maharishi and went to Nepal. initially living back with his parents. He was possibly institutionalized and medicated for a short period. By this stage he was using the name "Maitreya Kali", which he intended to become his legal name, although this didn't happen until 1971. After his girlfriend left him, Smith decided to travel to South America, spending time in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, and the Galapagos Islands of Chile. Returning from South America, Smith reunited with his girlfriend, and they became engaged. When the engagement ended, Smith ripped up the wedding dress his fiancée had chosen. Following another brief re-connection, the relationship ended for good when Smith violently threatened one of her male friends.
1970–1971: deterioration in mental health Smith claimed to have mystical powers, and thought he was a messiah. He claimed to be a reincarnation of Jesus, Buddha, and Hitler. As his erratic and bizarre behavior became more pronounced, such as claiming voices were telling him to kill people, his friends started to ignore him. One friend eventually had to obtain a restraining order against Smith. His appearance became more and more unkempt, with long hair and a wild beard. At one point, he shaved his head and beard off, and dressed in robes, his appearance comparable to a Buddhist monk, although his hair and beard would later grow back. Heather saw him again in Los Angeles in 1972, when he "looked really scary [...] just totally looked insane, and would say weird things."
1971–1972: Apache and Inca Smith wrote two solo albums
Apache and
Inca in 1971, which were self-released in 1972. In the
liner notes to both albums, Smith claims to have played every instrument. The liner notes as a whole have been described as "bizarre [and] rambling", and display his belief system.
Apache was released on his own 'Akashic Records',
Inca was released a few months after
Apache, in the summer of 1972, not as a standalone album but as a double gatefold with
Apache on his new 'United Kingdom of America Records' label. Like
Apache,
Inca also features songs from the Penny Arkade recording sessions. The albums were mainly distributed to Smith's friends or sold on the street.
1973–1976: prison After the albums were released, Smith sold his car with the intention of going to Ethiopia. His mental health problems continued, such as suggesting to a friend that they fight to the death using samurai swords. He also had a small black spider tattooed in the middle of his forehead in 1972 or 1973. On April 22, 1973, Smith attacked his mother at the family home. An attempted murder charge was not established, and following a psychiatric examination, he pleaded 'no contest' to a charge of assault. He was sentenced in November 1973 to six months to life, the maximum sentence for the offence, and the Judge suggested intense medical and psychiatric treatment. He began his sentence at the
California Institution for Men, before transferring to the
Deuel Vocational Institution in December 1973. He transferred again, to the
California Men's Colony, in February 1974. He was granted parole at the fourth attempt, and was released from prison in June 1976.
1977–2012: later years and death Suzannah Jordan, the third member of
The Happeners trio, ran into Smith in LA in 1977; he was homeless but did not display any obvious mental health issues. He drifted in and out of mental hospitals until the mid-1980s when funding was cut, and would then spend the next years homeless. In 1981 or 1982 he saw another old friend and told her he had been recording music. He has been indeed recording music, according to Mike Stax, as late as the late 1990s, which includes the 1994 song "Waves", which was released on the 2018 CD version of the album Love is Our Existence. By the early 2000s his "ramblings" had moved from Eastern philosophy/his Maitreya Kali persona to aliens. His family declined to collect his ashes, and they were eventually collected by journalist Mike Stax. ==Discography==