Bob Smeaton was born in Newcastle and upon leaving school served his time in the Shipyards on the Tyne. He cut short his apprenticeship to go full time with the rock band White Heat, in which he was lead vocalist and principle songwriter. White Heat was signed to Virgin records, toured extensively, and released one album and two singles. After the demise of White Heat, he moved into television and presented the TV programs 'Off the Peg' and the 'Colour Programme'. During this time he decided he wanted to get out from in front of the camera and get behind it.

While writing treatments for Music Videos he also worked his way up from production runner to 3rd Assistant Director, and eventually after three years 'learning the ropes' he had progressed to the role of Assistant Director and, in this capacity, worked on a number of productions including 'Jools Holland in Memphis' the award winning 'Nigel Kennedy's Four Seasons', as well as the Television series 'Famous for 15 Minutes' whose idea he also conceived.

During 1992-96 he was involved as Series Director and Writer on the Grammy award winning Beatles Anthology TV series. During 1998 he received his second Grammy for his 'Jimi Hendrix Band of Gypsies' documentary. He has since gone on to work with many of the biggest music acts in the world, and gained his first feature film credit, as Director on the feature documentary FESTIVAL EXPRESS.