In a picturesque bungalow, up a small cul de sac in Otley, lives a man who has had an astonishing career in music. This is Chris Smith, known a C J in music circles, whose life story and musical career is portrayed in this book he has written entitled ‘The Smile File’.

Taking the reader from the bands he was in at school in Otley, it follows his journey through concerts in Harrogate, Leeds, London and beyond, stretching over 50 years.

The title of the book comes from the fact that in 1968 Chris was a member of the band “Smile” with Tim Staffell, Brian May, and Roger Taylor. Chris was also at Art College in London with a certain Freddie Bulsara who later became Freddie Mercury. The rest as they say is history! Chris has some great stories about his time at College with Freddie. One day they were talking about future careers. Chris said he would like to have a Blues Band in which he was the songwriter. When he asked Freddie what he wanted to do, Freddie simply replied, “Oh, I’m going to be a Superstar”.

Back in 1966, Chris was in a band called “The Liberty Takers”. They “stole” the lead singer and saxophonist from another band called "The Sons of Sin”. This was Brian Ellison from Norwood who was also to go on to become a famous pop star as the saxophonist, guitarist, and keyboard player.in the Glitter Band. After Brian joined, The Liberty Takers changed their name to “Ellisons Hogline” and over the next few years played alongside and backed many famous artistes such as The Pretty Things, Billy Stewart, Freddie King, Charlie and Inns Fox and many more. It was around this time that Brian changed his stage name to Harvey (named after the imaginary rabbit in the James Stewart film).

In 1998 when Chris married his wife Jane, Brian Harvey brought his “Power of Soul” band to play at their wedding reception at the Sun Pavilion in the Valley Gardens at Harrogate.

The 268-page book contains 99 chapters making it an easy read as some chapters are only a single page or two pages in length whilst others are 4 or 5 pages. There are stories about David Bowie, George Harrison, Jimi Hendricks, Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash, David Crosby plus many others as well as a plethora of tales about Brian May, Freddie Mercury, and Roger Taylor.

The book is punctuated with numerous photographs of Chris in his various bands over the years as well as some with Freddie.

For anyone with a love of Blues, Pop and Rock music, this book is a fabulous read covering both the local scene of Otley, Harrogate, and Leeds and the stars in London and abroad that Chris has met over the years.

It is available from The Bookshop on The Square in Otley and through Amazon.