The concerns about the strange death of Reggae Star Smiley Culture (David Emmanuel), who died on March 15, aged 48, allegedly from self-inflicted stab wounds during a police drugs raid have not gone away. We are told that this was a serious drugs raid and that Smiley was facing serious drug charges but this was a person with NO criminal conviction for drugs and the only witnesses were the four policemen in his home with him. The questions are not going away and his family and community want answers - This is not an isolated incident; no fewer than 104 black and ethnic minority people have died in police custody in the past 16 years. There has NEVER, I repeat NEVER been a conviction of a Police Officer for murder in relation to a death in Police Custody in England.
Scotland Yard
The campaign for Justice for Smiley Culture is keeping up the pressure for real answers with a demonstration next Saturday.
Saturday 16 April, Assemble 12 noon
Southbank Club, 124-130 Wandsworth Road, London SW8 2DL.
The Campaign for Justice for Smiley Culture has called a demonstration to New Scotland Yard on Saturday, 16 April. It has received massive support from communities around the country, and has the potential to be very big.
The families and supporters of many of those who have died in police custody will be marching. We should also bring along others who have suffered brutality at the hands of police, whether through racist stop and search or being beaten up on a student demonstration. United we can bring change.
Over the next week we can spread the word through our campaign and community groups. Let's make this a march that the police can't ignore.
Join the Facebook group for the Campaign for Justice for Smiley Culture.
Smiley Culture, who died on March 15 aged 48, allegedly from self-inflicted stab wounds during a police drugs raid, produced two of the most influential reggae singles of the 1980s, notably Police Officer, a song about police harassment.
There is a strange feeling about this case. We are asked to believe a man was allowed to make a cup of tea on his own while he was being raided and a house was been combed for evidence in an alleged serious drugs case? Wouldn't it be dangerous to let a man boil hot water if he is being arrested alone in the kitchen? Wouldn't it be dangerous to allow a man to walk into a kitchen filled with knives and all sorts if he was being raided? Would experienced officers allow themselves and potential evidence be put at risk in this way? Would a suspect not be cuffed and taken out of the way as a matter of course? Also isn't it very hard almost impossible to stab yourself through your heart at close range to the point where the knife comes out the other side?
The supposedly autobiographical song ("Everytime me drive me car police a stop me superstar"), reached number 12 in the charts in 1984 and told of his being caught in possession of cannabis but being let off with a request for an autograph when the officer concerned recognised him as a reggae star. It earned Smiley Culture an invitation to meet the Queen who, he claimed, said she listened to his records at Buckingham Palace. He also appeared twice on Top of the Pops, the BBC apparently failing to understand the meaning of the term "ganja". The refrain, "Police officer no give me producer", a reference to a notice to produce driving documents at a police station, became a catchphrase on south London streets.
He was born David Emmanuel in 1962 to a Jamaican father and a Grenadian mother and grew up in Stockwell, south London. He attended Tulse Hill School where he acquired the nickname "Smiley" due to his method of chatting up girls – he would ask them for a smile. As reggae became popular he and his friends would practise "chatting" – rapping staccato lyrics over rhythm tracks.
In September last year, however, he appeared at Croydon magistrates' court, charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine. At the time of his death he was out on bail but due to face trial next Monday. The police raid on his home at Warlingham, Surrey, came after two kilos of cocaine were recovered from a drugs mule who had been apprehended trying to enter Britain – allegedly as part of a separate plot in which Smiley Culture was implicated.
There are a number of things about this tragic death which raise more questions than answers;
• For instance, why would experienced police officers let a person caught in a serious drug-related raid get up and stroll into the kitchen in order to “make a cup of tea”?
• Did David really stab himself in the heart so hard that it penetrated right through his body and came through the other side? Does this seem likely?
• Would the calculated risk of a drug-related potential prison sentence drive a person, described by those that knew him best as calculating, very calm and pleasant really drive him to such a brutal suicide?
• Why are anonymous police sources engaging in a spinning exercise by telling the press he committed suicide when the family of a man (who died in police custody) has not even had their questions answered and the matter is more properly answered by a Coroner’s Court?
The house at Warlingham, Surrey, where David Emmanuel died
Whilst the unexpected can always happen, both those who have been subjected to police raids and actual police officers agree that it sounds at best strange and certainly contrary to procedure for officers to let a person pop out of the room – unsupervised - to make a cup of tea, during a drug bust.
There are very serious questions that require clear and loud answers. This is not to prejudice the result of an IPCC and Coroner's enquiry for people under the influence of drugs (if that is the case) can do strange things. The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating events at Emmanuel's house and for the sake of public confidence it needs to fully answer these worrying questions. This is not an isolated incident; no fewer than 104 black and ethnic minority people have died in police custody in the past 16 years.
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Gerry Rafferty performing in the National Stadium, Dublin 6th September 1980 - Photo: Eddie Mallin
Today (Tuesday 4th January 2011) saw a sad end to Gerry Rafferty's career which began busking on London Underground. The experience inspired his 1978 anthem of urban alienation “Baker Street”. Despite the glamorous image buskers then (60s /70s) often lived a hand to mouth existence living in squats, experimenting with drugs and drinking heavily. He had been reported in 2008 as expelled from the Westbury Hotel in London, disappeared in Italy and having left rehab and then in November last admitted to hospital in Bournemouth with liver disease. Gerry died at the age of 63 peacefully at home, with his daughter Martha at his bedside after suffering a long illness but hopefully he will be remembered as a great songwriter and musician rather than for his life at the end when his demons caught up with him.
His career high came in the 1970s and included the anthemic Baker Street and Stuck in the Middle with You, recorded with his band Stealers Wheel. His Irish-born father was a heavy-drinking miner and lorry driver who died when Gerry was 16. Inspired by his Scottish mother, who had taught him Irish and Scottish folk songs as a boy, and heavily influenced by the music of The Beatles and Bob Dylan, the young Gerry started to write his own material.
City to City
He was born in Paisley, Scotland and began his musical career as a busker on the London Underground. He had recorded and toured with Billy Connolly as part of the Humblebums, before forming Stealers Wheel with his friend Joe Egan in 1972. Stuck in the Middle with You was a hit in the early 70s and also appeared on the soundtrack of Quentin Tarantino's debut film Reservoir Dogs in 1992. Baker Street charted in the UK and US in 1978 after Rafferty began his solo career and still achieves airplay on radio stations around the world. It is understood his funeral will be held in Paisley later this month.
He had a smash hit in 1978 with Baker Street, a world-weary classic based on his experiences busking in the London Underground as a struggling young musician. "It was first released in 1978 on his album "City to City" and has been covered by over 20 artists. The song was named after the famous London Street and Underground station of the same name; this was Rafferty's second solo album. The single reached #3 in the UK and performed even better in the US, where it became a #2 hit, in addition to reaching the top 10 in the Netherlands (#9). It was Rafferty' first release after the legal issues surrounding the formal separation of the band Stealers Wheel in 1975. Rafferty was unable to release any material for three years after the band's break up, while resolving the disputes about the band's remaining contractual recording obligations.
Baker Street
While a memorable line in his best-known song included a promise to “give up the booze and the one-night stands”, Rafferty never conquered his private demons. The haunting Baker Street with its searing saxophone riff and great guitar solo propelled Rafferty into the pantheon of British rock legends. The song has remained a staple of soft-rock and easy-listening stations for more than 30 years — by 2004 it was reckoned to have received four million airplays — and at the time of his death continued to earn Rafferty around £80,000 annually in royalties.
So let’s remember how great Gerry was at his peak. A great song on a great album. He'll be sorely missed.
For more about Baker Street and the London Underground see;
Windin' your way down on Baker Street Light in your head and dead on your feet Well another crazy day You'll drink the night away And forget about everything This city desert makes you feel so cold. It's got so many people but it's got no soul And it's taking you so long To find out you were wrong When you thought it had everything
I was so sorry to hear about Stephen Gately's untimely death in Majorca at the age of 33. I had met him a number of times and he was a very endearing, unaffected character. Ar dheis Dé go raibh anam uasal.
Drugs were not a factor in the sudden death of Boyzone star Stephen Gately, a family spokesman has said. Well-known Irish solicitor and family friend Gerald Kean, asked by the family to speak on their behalf, also ruled out suicide. "There's no foul play involved and it's not suicide. It's just a tragic accident is what we've been told and we're happy that that is correct information," Mr Kean said.
"There is nothing untoward, it's not drugs, we don't believe, it's not suicide, it's not murder, it's not a fight. That's what we've been told." Mr Kean said the family was shattered by the shocking news. "They're devastated and they asked me to take calls for the moment. They're just trying to come to terms with it," he said. Mr Kean said a post mortem on Mr Gately's body is expected on Tuesday and attributed the death to natural causes, but declined to give any further detail.
The Celtic Sage has never claimed infallibility, though some have attributed it to him, but even he has had his feathers ruffled. His confident prediction of 8th April last that Dustin the Turkey with his mould breaking contribution “Irelande Douze Pointes!!” would be the 2008 Eurovision winner was last night exposed as a fowl piece of judgement
as Dustin was culled early in the Eurovision semi finals.
Dustin may have been lost in translation, as he simply failed to make the cut on the Eurovision stage. The feathered performer set a new standard for the weird and wonderful world of Eurovision last night when he exploded on stage in a burst of green, white and gold. Propped up in a jazzed-up shopping trolley and surrounded by a flock of dancers, the feathered puppet outdid some of the most outlandish acts ever seen in the annual contest -- and that's saying something as the Eurovision sets the kitsch standards the rest of the world rightly fears. Hopes were high for Dustin who had an impressive back up team including Bob Geldof on hair and make up and Dana as spiritual adviser. As Dustin himself pointed out he wasn’t like Westlife, he had talent.
After he was cruelly cut he made a statesmanlike speech to his distraught fans; "I urge my fans across Europe to be dignified in defeat. I do not want street riots as I'm a peace-loving bird," he said. A place in the final would have been a victory for art, beauty, poetry but most of all, for his bank account, he declared.
But dignified as he was a terrible thought occurred to me when the news broke that General Franco’s Spanish Government had orchestrated a conspiracy which cheated Cliff Richard of the Eurovision prize in 1968 for “Congratulations”. Is it beyond the bounds of possibility that this plucky Irish Turkey was stuffed by a Pan-European vegetarian conspiracy?
On last Sunday Pop History and myself once again crossed paths and I “enjoyed” my most surreal experience since I saw the Bee Gees perform at the old Wembley Stadium. (You know the old one with the Way of Champions and the Towers of Glory, not the new one with the Arch of Agony.) The Bee Gees were different as all 4 appeared, 3 on stage and one, Andy on video. Being dead, Andy’s performing style was somewhat cramped. If the Bee Gees reprised their concert today the line up would be more evenly balanced and Andy wouldn’t have the pressure of being the only dead performer. As for the audience they were a spectacle in themselves, permed bouffant hair dos, rhinestone boots and luridly bright crushed velour jackets. And that was just the men, the female audience were even more dramatically attired!
So it was with a heightened sense of expectation that I took myself to Kingsbury Square (remodelled, with many delays, for only £2 M in the “continental” style) to have my senses assailed by those dinosaurs of Glam Rock, MUD!! O what a diet was promised “Oh Boy!”, “Tiger Feet”, “Lonely Tonight” – the best of MUDROCK!!!
The original line up of Les Gray, Rob Davies, Dave Stiles and Dave Mount
Doubts set in on the way about Carshalton’s great contribution to popular culture for like the Bee Gees, were Les Grey and Dave Mount not dead, resulting in a somewhat cramped singing style? Would this still count as "Live" music? Fear not for this free concert as part of the proud town of Aylesbury’s “Hobble on the Cobble” season (don’t you just love the ingenuity that goes into these names? No??) had spared no expense in ensuring a Glam spectacle.
Sure enough, after a suitably bad warm up act, the MUDS stepped onto the superb stage (OK, It was a Robinson’s of Aylesbury Removals open sided removal van) resplendent in powder blue Teddy Boy coats with leopard trimmed pockets and collars, blue suede shoes and red socks! Wow! Two of them did look suspiciously young but this didn’t hold them back from laying into a session of Golden Oldies before a sell out FREE concert of, maybe, 150 people. How the kids loved them as they danced in the fountains but, in fairness, they would have been doing that anyway. How we swayed on a lovely Sunday Afternoon to all those reassuring lyrics etched into our cerebella!!
It'll be lonely this Christmas Without you to hold It'll be lonely this Christmas Lonely and cold It'll be cold, so cold Without you to hold This Christmas
Sometimes it needs lyrics like that put life into perspective – thank you MUD for getting stuck in!! Let’s keep MUD on the road, vote for eternal YOUTH, innit?
All my life I've been a-waitin' Tonight there'll be no hesitatin' Oh boy, when you're with me Oh boy, the world will see That you were meant for me
Oh to be alive in beautiful downtown Aylesbury on a day such as this!!
Originally formed in 1966, Mud bumbled along for a bit before being taken under the wing of RAK and the Midas-like Chinn and Chapman song writing partnership. They'd already done wonders for The Sweet, what could they do for Mud?
In 1972, RAK and Mud were a partnership made in heaven. RAK was interested in scoring hits and Mud were interested in being on Top of the Pops and having a laugh. The partnership suited both sides and it worked a treat. They scored a total of 15 hits between 1972 and 1976 and the tigertastic Tiger Feet was top of the charts for six glorious weeks in 1974.
"That's right, that's right, that's right, that's right, Really love your tiger light That's neat, that's neat, that's neat, that's neat, Really love your tiger feet"
(Cue two-note Woolworth's guitar solo)
Their other great pop moment was also in 1974 when they had the Christmas number one with a song called 'Lonely this Christmas'. Its opening lines were: 'Try to imagine a house that's not a home; try to imagine a Christmas all alone. That's where I'll be, since you left me.'
When the song was performed on Top of the Pops, tons of fake snow was showered on the group which got in their mouths as they tried to sing. It was enjoyable Christmas fun.
After the Glam bubble burst in 1976 they disappeared, jettisoned by their public like an empty fuel tank. Sir Les kept going (in his tight white Lurex trousers), renaming the band Les Gray's Mud. The band continued touring until 1997 when ill health tapped Les on the shoulder - a bill from the early Seventies.
