So farewell then Smiley Culture

The first single from the album, Police Officer, reached number 12 in the UK charts. Probably the first hit single to contain the word ‘sinsemilla’, Police Officer recalls the time Smiley Culture was stopped and searched by the police, and found in possession of cannabis, only to be released when recognised by one of the officers, in exchange for an autograph.  

The song was a joyous response to the reality of racial profiling in stop and search and its misuse by the Met police. The story is also ironic, given the circumstances of his later demise.  

The song earned Smiley Culture an appearance on Top of the Pops and an invitation to meet the Queen who, he claimed, said she listened to his records at Buckingham Palace.  

The world was his oyster, well, minor 80s celebrity culture was his oyster, including a cameo appearance in the film Absolute Beginners, a TV commercial for NatWest Bank and cover features on Echoes, Record Mirror, and the NME. His success led to an appearance at the Reggae Sunsplash festival in Jamaica. He also hosted the Channel 4 television show Club Mix. 

Seven singles followed, but none of these reached the giddy heights of the top 40, the best of these, Schooltime Chronicle, reaching number 59 in 1986.  In a 2010 interview in the Guardian Smiley explained that he quit the music ­business because he "never got rich, and it was a struggle sometimes". 

In July 2010, Smiley Culture was arrested and charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine. In an interview with the Guardian, he explained that he had “bought an expensive car in cash, which resulted in a visit by the police.”  He further explained that his wealth had come through investments in gold and diamond mine concessions in Ghana, Uganda, Liberia, Kenya, and the Congo. 

Smiley Culture died on 15 March 2011, aged 48, during a police raid on his home, six days before his case was due to come to trial. Four police officers entered his house in Warlingham, Surrey, with a warrant relating to the importation of Class A drugs. The four officers had been in the house for over an hour and a half, when Smiley was stabbed through the heart and died. The police officers claimed that he had stabbed himself whilst making a cup of tea.  

An inquest found that his death was a suicide, though his family and fans questioned the verdict and the police version of events.  

His death was ‘investigated’ by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, though the subsequent report, which was never made public, nor made available to his family, concluded that there was no case for criminal proceedings against any of the four officers involved in the raid, nor any failings by officers that might amount to misconduct.  

If a black musician of his notability had died in such circumstances in the US there would have been riots, counter riots, protest movements and counter protest movements. But this is the UK.  The incident passed almost unobserved. A few of us fans wrote letters to the Guardian – they were never printed. 

Though his chart success was short-lived, his fast-paced, comical blend of London street talk and reggae rhythms paved the way for such performers as The Streets and Dizzee Rascal. Through artists such as these, Smiley Culture lives on.