Smiley Culture

David Emmanuel was born at Stockwell, South London, on March 15, 1963, the son of a Jamaican father and a Guyanese mother.
He may have been black, but the man who would become Smiley Culture had more in common with Del Boy Trotter of the classic TV series Only Fools And Horses or Max Miller than with Bob Marley, although unlike Miller, this latter day Cheeky Chappie never relied on innuendo and smut for laughs.

Smiley's rise to fame was quick but not meteoric. The two songs for which he will be fondly remembered are "Cockney Translation" and "Police Officer", both of which he wrote himself. He released his debut album Tongue In Cheek on the Polydor label in 1986, but it was probably too much even in the 1980s to attempt to build a career on novelty songs, although others have done it.

After his second album, The Original Smiley Culture, which was also released in 1986, on Top Notch, his performing career stalled, although he released "Can't Stop The Rap" in 1990 before fading from sight. He may have been gone but he was not forgotten; in July 2009, the London Evening Standard newspaper included "Cockney Translation" on its list London Calling 15 Capital Classics behind "Waterloo Sunset" and "Up The Junction" but ahead of Adele's "Hometown Glory".