Gaye Advert

Who is Gaye Advert?

Gaye Advert is an English punk rock musician, who played bass guitar in the band The Adverts, in the late 1970s. She was one of the first female rock stars of the punk rock movement, whom The Virgin Encyclopedia of 70s Music called the "first female punk star". She was "one of Punk’s first female icons". Dave Thompson wrote that her "photogenic" looks, "panda-eye make-up and omnipresent leather jacket defined the face of female punkdom until well into the next decade".

Black and T.V. Smith, were both from Bideford, a small coastal town in Devon, moved to London and formed the band there, in 1976. They were later married.

After the demise of The Adverts in 1980, Advert stopped playing the bass guitar and disappeared from the British punk scene, taking up a career as a manager in social services. She recounted her experiences of being in the band in an interview for Zillah Minx's film, She's A Punk Rocker UK.