I left, Freddie joined...the rest is rock history!

Tim Staffell was none other than Freddie Mercury’s predecessor, who sang with Brian May and Roger Taylor in the band Smile before deciding to leave. Ahead of his own new gigs, the 77-year-old tells FRAN WINSTON how he has chosen to accept the past with good grace

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Tim Staffell was none other than Freddie Mercury's predecessor, who sang with Brian May and Roger Taylor in the band Smile before deciding to leave. Ahead of his own new gigs, the 77-year-old tells FRAN WINSTON how he has chosen to accept the past with good grace

E MYTHOLOGY of the music industry is littered with tales of people who departed bands on the cusp of stardom, whether through their own choice or not (recollections may vary).

Famously, early Beatles drummer Pete Best lost his seat to Ringo Starr before the Fab Four attained global stardom.

Original Spice Girl Michelle Stephenson was replaced by Emma Bunton, and Chad Channing’s firing from Nirvana paved the way for Dave Grohl as drummer.

Up there with all of them is Tim Staffell, singer in the 70s rock band Smile, who, for a while, performed alongside guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor.

Tim left Smile in March 1970 “to explore a different musical direction”. His replacement was a certain Freddie Mercury.

Smile became Queen and the rest, as they say, is history.

As for Tim, he left the music industry for decades, to return in 2005 with his first solo album, aMIGO. While well-received, it didn’t sell in the millions that the records of his former bandmates did.

“People say you are kicking yourself, aren’t you?” reflects Tim today about that fateful decision, in an exclusive chat with the Sunday Express.

“But the answer is no because I wasn’t leaving something that had any promise at that particular time.

“1 might sometimes lie in bed at night and think, ‘I wish I’d been part of that’, but that’s only in recent years. At the time I was wrapped up in what I thought was my destiny.”

The musician reckons there is a disconnect in many people’s minds between what Queen became and what Smile was when he was in it.