Smile (band)

Smile were an English rock band based in London, and the predecessor to rock band Queen. The band was formed in 1968 by Brian May, who went on to become Queen's guitarist. It included Tim Staffell as lead singer and bass guitarist, and later, drummer Roger Taylor, who also went on to play for Queen. They recorded only six songs and disbanded in 1970. These songs were titled "April Lady", "Step on Me", "Polar Bear", "Earth", "Blag", and "Doin' Alright" (later re-recorded by Queen for their self-titled debut album in 1973). These songs exist on the CD ''Ghost of a Smile''. "April Lady" was dedicated to Roger Taylor's girlfriend at the time.

History

In 1968, Brian May, a student at London's Imperial College, and Tim Staffell formed a group when May placed an advertisement on the college notice board for a "Ginger Baker type" drummer, and a young dental student named Roger Taylor auditioned and got the job. Smile were signed to Mercury Records in 1969, and that year had their first experience of a recording studio, at Trident Studios. Staffell was attending Ealing Art College with Freddie Bulsara, and introduced him to the band. Bulsara soon became a keen fan.

The group's biggest public performance was on 27 February 1969 at a concert in aid of the National Council for the Unmarried Mother and Her Child, held at the Royal Albert Hall. May, Taylor and Staffell performed as a trio on guitar, drums and bass respectively.

Smile gigged quite a bit on the London scene, according to '' Time Out''s listings. On 19 April they played at the Speakeasy, and on 31 May appeared at the Whisky-A-Go-Go.

In March 1969, the band played at a venue known as PJ's, using claims to have previously been played on BBC Radio 1 to secure an audience. It seems likely that the claims were fictitious, however."Smit's Smile".
Originally from Queenfans.com. (Currently offline, retrieved through web archive on 8 November 2007.) Shortly after they were given a one-off recording deal by Mercury Records to record three tracks, "Earth" (Staffell), "Step on Me" (May), and "Doin' All Right" (May/Staffell). These were recorded in June 1969 at Trident Studios in Soho.

Ultimately this U.S. promotional recording was never published commercially, however, in September of the same year, Mercury Records commissioned them to record three more songs: "April Lady" (Stanley Lucas), "Blag", and "Polar Bear", a "gentle song about a polar bear" written and led by May, at De Lane Lea Studios. Again, the record was not released at the time.

When Staffell left in 1970 to join another band, Humpy Bong, Smile effectively disbanded. Bulsara persuaded May and Taylor to continue, and at about the same time, changing his surname from Bulsara to Mercury, joined them as lead vocalist, thus forming a new group, Queen. Queen tried several bass players during this period – Mike Grose, Barry Mitchell and Doug Bogie – none of whom fitted in with the band's chemistry. Not until February 1971 did John Deacon join and complete the lineup, whereupon they began rehearsing for their first album. This definitive lineup lasted until Mercury's death in 1991, their last album being ''Made in Heaven'', released posthumously in 1995.

For their debut album, Queen recorded "Doing All Right". According to the book ''Queen: The Early Years'', Staffell has been well compensated through royalties from the sale of the album, given his co-songwriting credit for the song with May. Queen also recorded the song for their first BBC
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