Timothy John 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).
Upon Staffell"s departure, Smile were joined by Freddie Mercury and John Deacon to form the band Queen. 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.
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). Staffell later decided to pursue a career as a model maker, designer, animator and commercials director
In 2001, Staffell returned to the music industry co-forming with Richard Lightman, long-time collaborator, a new blues-funk band called aMIGO, 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 Civil Defense-R for a limited release run (less than 300 copies) and later released via iTunes.
He was a member of Smile, a band which included guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor.
