SMILE

Smile was formed in the late 60's, and was made up of Queen members; Brian May and Roger Taylor, and a long time friend Tim Staffell. The band recorded but never released one single, titled "Earth" (b-side "Step On Me"), and posthumously released two albums. Smile later turned into Queen when Staffell left, Freddie Mercury joined, and the 3 of them found John Deacon. Their song "Doin' Alright" was later recorded by Queen for their first album as "Doing All Right". Staffell and May met in 1964 and, together with several mutual friends, formed a band that they would call "1984". 1984, in May's words, was "purely an amateur band, formed at school, although perhaps at the end we once got fifteen quid or something. We never really played anything significant in the way of original material". (Brian May, The Guitar Greats, 1983). For four years, the band did little in the way of recording, playing cover songs at sporadic gigs while the bandmembers focused on their schooling. May would leave the band in 1968 to focus on his BSc exams and would be accepted to study for a phD in astrophysics at renowned Imperial College. (A degree that May would finally obtain forty years later.) Though he was a diligent student, May desperately wanted to continue to play his guitar, so he and Staffell decided later that year to start fresh with a new band. "Smile" would be the chosen name of this new venture, and May would post an advert on the student message board: "Brilliant Drummer wanted for Heavy Guitar band - must be able to play like Mitch Mitchell, Ginger Baker, Keith Moon." A student at Imperial saw the posting and immediately told his roommate, a London Hospital medical school student by the name of Roger Taylor.