Smile (band)

Smile
Brian May, Tim Staffell and Roger Taylor.
Background information
Origin	London, England
Genres	Blues rock, psychedelic rock, progressive rock
Years active	1968–70, 1992
Labels	Mercury
Associated acts	Queen, 1984
Past members	Brian May Tim Staffell Roger Taylor

Smile were an English rock band based in London, best known as the predecessor to renowned 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 singer and bassist, and later, drummer Roger Taylor, who also went on to play for Queen. They recorded only six songs and disbanded in 1970.

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 medical student named Roger Taylor auditioned and got the job. Smile were signed to Mercury Records in 1969, and had their first experience of a recording studio in Trident Studios that year. Staffell was attending Ealing Art College with Farrokh ("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 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. Keyboardist Chris Smith had been fired the day before, according to Staffell. (According to Smith, he was only briefly in the band and left of his own accord because he was interested in different styles.)

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. 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.