Smiley Bates

Bates' final three years were spent battling cancer and he eventually died on January 8, 1997, in Bent River, Ontario, Canada.

Bates continued to record, and to perform for fans during the mid-1990s, until he was diagnosed with cancer. Bates' final live performance was at the Manitoulin Folk Festival.

In 1973, Doug Taylor (Smiley's record producer at the time) asked him to headline an all-Canadian country show in Wheeling, West Virginia, featuring Joe Firth, Bobby Munro, Joanne Post, Steve Smith, and Eastwind.

By 1971, when album sales were increasing, Smiley ceased performing at clubs, opting instead to undertake an annual tour of the Maritimes, in addition to attending annual events like the Shelburne Old Time Fiddle Festival.

In 1969, two additional albums were recorded. “Songs from the Heart” and “Flat Top Guitar Instrumentals” showcased Smiley’s talent and advanced his career.

Bates met record producer Jack Boswell in 1968. Impressed by Bates' vocal and instrumental talents he signed him to a recording contract. Although Bates arrived at the studio suffering a hangover, he still managed to record three albums in five hours: "Golden Guitar", "5-String Banjo Bluegrass", and "Fiddler's Dream", engineered by the late Bill Bessey, who was known to his fans as "Cousin Bill" on CBC radio, and later the announcer on the Tommy Hunter TV Show.

After the release of the first instrumental album in 1968, more were recorded to meet the demand. Smiley's own instrumental numbers such as "Crying Guitar", "The Last Sunrise", "Charlie's Boogie", "Flat Top Chimes", and "Newfoundland Reel" please fans of the Flat Top Guitar.

In 1966, Smiley recorded his first single. It included The Gal Who Invented Kissing and My Nova Scotia Home, and was issued as a custom pressing. A part-time D.J., who was off his shift at 6 A.M., recorded the songs in Smiley’s motel room at 7 A.M.

As a child, Smiley practiced playing his father's fiddle. Attracted to the guitar after hearing Hank Snow recordings, he began playing on an Eaton's mail-order guitar at age six. Later he also learned to play the banjo, mandolin, and dobro. In 1948, at eleven years of age, Smiley joined Curly Carter and the Mountaineers, playing the fiddle. In 1951, he formed his own band, the North Star Ramblers.

Harvey Edgar Bates (October 16, 1937 – January 8, 1997), known professionally as Smiley Bates was a Canadian country singer, songwriter, and musician. He recorded over forty albums throughout his career and sold over three million records worldwide. Bates also performed on radio stations, CJKL-FM and CKJB. He died of cancer on January 8, 1997, at Bent River in Muskoka, Ontario, Canada.

Born on October 16, 1937, in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, Canada, Harvey Edgar Bates (known as Smiley) was the youngest of eleven children; he had seven brothers and three sisters. Country music was a prominent feature in the Bates' family life; Bates senior played the fiddle and performed at square dances, where his backing band often included his wife who played piano. All of his siblings played musical instruments.