Tim Staffell

Tim Staffell
Birth name Timothy John Staffell
Born 24 February 1948
Ealing, London, England
Genres Rock, progressive rock
Instruments Bass, vocals, harmonica
Years active 1960s–present
Associated acts Smile, Humpy Bong, Morgan, Queen
Website timstaffell.com

Timothy "Tim" John Staffell[1] (born 24 February 1948 in Ealing, London, England)[2] is an English rock musician, visual artist, model maker and designer. He was a member of Smile, a band which included guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. Upon Staffell's departure, Smile were joined by Freddie Mercury and John Deacon to form the band Queen.

Early life and music career

Staffell attended Hampton Grammar School and was the singer in a band called the Railroaders when in 1964 he attended a concert where he met fellow Hampton pupil Brian May. They then put together a blues-rock band called '1984' with John Garnham (guitar), Dave Dilloway (bass), John Sanger (keyboards) and Richard Thompson (drums). In 1965 Staffell began a graphics and drawing course at Ealing Art College where he became friends with Freddie Mercury, whilst May enrolled at Imperial College, London. 1984 were a support act for Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd and disbanded in early 1968.

Staffell and May then put together a new band called Smile with Roger Taylor who auditioned to be their drummer.[3] Staffell and May co-wrote the song "Doing All Right", which Queen included on their eponymous debut album. Following his tenure with Smile, Staffell joined Humpy Bong and then the experimental progressive rock outfit Morgan, with whom he released the albums Nova Solis and Brown Out (later retitled The Sleeper Wakes).[4]

Model maker, designer and animator

Staffell later decided to pursue a career as a model maker,[5] designer, animator and commercials director. Among the projects upon which he worked were the BBC television adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and, for the inaugural series, he was chief model maker for the first series of the children's TV show Thomas and Friends.[6]

Return to music

In 2001, Staffell returned to the music industry with a new blues-funk band called aMIGO,[7] who draw inspiration from folk, Latin and rock. In 2003 they released one eponymous album, with re-recorded versions of the old Smile tunes "Earth" and "Doin' Alright", featuring his former bandmate Brian May on guitars and vocals. The album was self released and available on CD-R for a limited release run (less than 300 copies) and later released via iTunes.

References

  1. ↑ "Queen – Doing All Right lyrics | Musixmatch – The world's largest lyrics catalog". Community.musixmatch.com. 1 July 1973. Retrieved 2014-08-25.
  2. ↑ England & Wales births: Tim Staffel. 2012 brightsolid online publishing limited. Retrieved 16 May 2012
  3. ↑ "Tim Staffell Biography". Queenzone.com. Retrieved 2014-05-24.
  4. ↑ "the Love Affair pages". Home.lyse.net. Retrieved 2011-10-02.
  5. ↑ "Smile". Queenonline.com. Retrieved 2011-10-02.
  6. ↑ "Crewmember Dedication Page". Sodor-island.net. Retrieved 2011-10-02.
  7. ↑ "Maintenance Mode". Tim Staffell. Retrieved 2014-05-24.

External links