Five friends from Wiltshire, David John Harman (Dave Dee), Trevor Leonard Ward-Davies (Dozy), John Dymond (Beaky), Michael Wilson (Mick) and Ian Frederick Stephen Amey (Tich), formed a group in 1961, originally called Dave Dee and the Bostons. They soon gave up their jobs (e.g. Dave Dee was a policeman) to make their living from music. Apart from performing in the UK, they also occasionally played in Hamburg (Star-Club, Top Ten Club) and in Cologne (Storyville). Ward-Davies had acquired his nickname when he unwrapped a chocolate bar before absent-mindedly discarding the bar and attempting to eat the wrapper.
Vocalist Dave Dee, the ex-policeman, was at the scene of the motoring
accident that took the life of the American rock and roller Eddie
Cochran and injured Gene Vincent in April 1960.
In summer 1964,
the British songwriters Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley became interested
in recording them. The band was set up in the studio to make recordings
with Joe Meek. These recording sessions failed to get off the ground as
an interview with Dave Dee stated that Meek "had very strange recording
techniques. He wanted us to play the song at half speed and then he
would speed it up and put all these little tricks on it. We said we
couldn't do it that way.
He exploded, threw coffee all over the studio
and stormed up to his room. His assistant [Patrick Pink] came in and
said, 'Mr Meek will not be doing any more recording today.' That was it.
We lugged all our gear out and went back home". While these recording
sessions proved unsuccessful they eventually gained a recording contract
with Fontana Records.
Ken Howard said that: "We changed their
name to Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich, because they were their
actual nicknames and because we wanted to stress their very distinct
personalities in a climate which regarded bands as collectives." The
distinctive name, coupled with well produced and catchy songs by Howard
and Blaikley, quickly caught the UK public's imagination and their
records started to sell in abundance. Indeed, between 1965 and 1969, the
group spent more weeks in the UK Singles Chart than the
Beatles and made the odd tour 'down under' to Australia
and New Zealand, where they had also experienced some marked chart
success during this period.
They also scored a Number One hit in
the UK Singles Chart in 1968 with "The Legend of Xanadu". The combined
sales figures were in excess of one million copies. Their other top 10
UK hits included "Hideaway", "Hold Tight!", "Bend It!", "Save Me!",
"Touch Me, Touch Me", "Okay!", "Zabadak!" and "Last Night in Soho".
"Bend
It!" was a big hit in Europe, including a Number One in Germany. To
obtain a bouzouki sound on the recording, an electrified mandolin was
used. The song was inspired by music from the film sound track of Zorba
The Greek. The combined UK and European sales were over one million.
However, in October 1966, the British music magazine NME commented that
dozens of US radio stations had banned the record, because the lyrics
were considered too suggestive. The group responded by recording a new
version in London with a different set of words, which was rush-released
in the US, as the original single was withdrawn from sale. "Bend It!"
was later used in an episode of the American animated sitcom Futurama
entitled "The Mutants Are Revolting".
The band were big sellers
elsewhere in the world, particularly in British Commonwealth countries.
In New Zealand, the group had three number one hits, and 7 other songs
reached the top 10. In Australia, they reached the top 10 with "Hold
Tight!", "Bend It!", "Zabadak!" and "The Legend of Xanadu". In Canada,
the band scored two top 10 hits with "Zabadak!", which reached #1, and
"The Legend of Xanadu", and hit the top 30 with "Break Out"—a song that
didn't chart in any other country.
In the US, the group failed to
break out nationally, although they had regional successes,
particularly in northeastern cities such as Cleveland, Buffalo,
Syracuse, Albany and Boston where both "Bend It" and "Hold Tight" gained
considerable airplay and charted in the top 10 on local radio stations.
"Zabadak" gained extensive US airplay during winter 1967–68, climbing
top 10 in several major US markets including Los Angeles, but despite
pockets of radio exposure, the band never gained mass airplay in
America; "Zabadak" was the band's only single to chart in the national
Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at No. 52.
This is at least partially
a result of both the band's US labels, Fontana and Imperial Records,
failing to secure them a US tour or TV appearances. Fontana set up just
two appearances on national US TV programs. These were in July 1966
("Hold Tight" on Where the Action Is) and Piccadilly Palace on 26 August
1967 (performing their then-current single "Okay"). Imperial scored
none.
In September 1969, Dave Dee left the group for a
short-lived solo career. NME reported the previous month that Dave Dee
was to play a motorbike gang leader in the forthcoming Marty Feldman
film Every Home Should Have One.[8] The rest of the band, re-billed as
(D,B,M and T), continued releasing records until they broke up in 1972.
In the 1980s the group reformed again without Dave Dee, although there
was one further single with him, "Staying with It", a cover of the
Firefall song in 1983. In the meantime Dave Dee had become a record
producer with Magnet Records.
In the 1990s, they started
performing once more, this time with their one-time leader, Dave Dee.
Dave Dee was a J.P. in Cheshire until he retired from the bench in 2008
due to his failing health. He continued to perform with his band almost
up until his death on 9 January 2009. He had been suffering from
prostate cancer since early 2001.
In 2013, John Dymond (the original Beaky) returned to the band. In 2014, Tich retired after 50 years.
With
Ray Frost as the new "Tich" the band, still consisting of two original
members, pledged to continue. However Trevor Ward-Davies (Dozy) died on
13 January 2015, aged 70, after a short illness. He is survived by his
wife, Yvonne(wiki)
For me the band is one of
the most important commercial pop bands of the sixties in Europe. Apart
from the Beatles, I don't know of any other band of that time that was
more successful. The band was never an ''album band'' although their
albums often featured many good pop songs. But the band was never
committed to a certain pop style and so the albums sounded more like
''Best Of'' albums. This didn't harm the success of the band. But the
band never managed the success in the USA.
The box reflects their
musical path very well. In large parts I personally like their later
work a bit better. Although there are so many good pop songs on this box
that you can grab a disc almost blindly. Recommended for Sixties Brit
Pop fans. Enjoy.(Frank)
Artwork (zippy) Artwork (M)
pass: SB1
