Following his tenure with Smile, Staffell joined Humpy Bong and then the experimental progressive rock outfit Morgan, with whom he released the albums Nova Solis and Brown Out (later retitled The Sleeper Wakes).

Among the projects upon which he worked were the BBC television adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and he was the chief model maker for the first series of the children's TV show Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends.

In 2001, Staffell returned to the music industry, co-forming with long-time collaborator Richard Lightman a new blues / funk band called aMIGO,[6] drawing inspiration from folk, Latin and rock.

In 2003 they released one eponymous album, with re-recorded versions of the old Smile tunes "Earth" and "Doin' Alright", featuring his former bandmate Brian May on guitars and vocals.

In April 2018, Staffell was invited to record his part of the song "Doin' Alright" alongside the other Smile members, Brian May and Roger Taylor, for the upcoming soundtrack to the movie Bohemian Rhapsody, which tells the life story of Queen.