Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich
Hailing from the same West Country region of England as The
Troggs (Salisbury, actually) this group started life as Dave Dee
and The Bostons and went in search of the gold-paved streets of
London, via the obligatory stint in Hamburg (a season at the Top
Ten Club).
Their stage act featured rock & roll mixed with comedy
routines, costume-loving theatricalism, and risqué patter from
their frontman.
The ludicrously-named band were taken on by The Honeycombs'
managers Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley, who secured a Fontana
record contract for Dave and the lads in short order, and went on
to steer the group to spectacular success, writing all 13 of their
best-selling singles. In 1966, the team gained more UK chart
entries than anyone else - including The Beatles.
Despite startling TV appearances on Ready Steady Go, the
first two singles did not take off. No Time (January 1965)
was a curious waltz featuring whistling and Teutonic overtones,
while All I Want - though a ballad - was nearer to what
they were to become.
1966's first release, Hold Tight, with its football
chant rhythm and fuzzy guitar, squeezed into the British charts at
Number 4, precipitating three stellar years for the band and their
mentors, Messrs Howard and Blaikley.
During this period, the band's sound evolved with singles
beginning to feature girlie choruses, brass bands, sound effects
and string sections.
Strategically released at the tail-end of 1967s hot flower
power Summer Of Love, Zabadak swept effortlessly into the
UK Top 3. Most critics consider Zabadak and its two chart
successors to be the band's most inspired phase, though much of it
was executed in a very slap-dash manner.
Apart from backing vocals and whip noises (an empty beer bottle
zoomed down a guitar fretboard while two bits of plywood were
smacked together!), The Legend of Xanadu was recorded live
in the last half hour of an otherwise chaotic afternoon session
with a novice studio engineer.
Geared for the singles market, the group's three albums tended
to be regarded as collections of individual tracks rather than
complete entities, padded as they are with A and B sides in no
logical order. Despite their enormous popularity in Britain the
group were unable to impress the US market, and in 1969 they ran
out of steam.
Dave Dee (born David Harman) left for an unsuccessful solo
career and ultimately moved to the administrative side of the
music business as head of A&R at WEA's UK division when his
solo career failed to take off
In the 1970s Dee (real name Dave Harman) was a
founding committee member of the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy
charity and was actively involved in fundraising and increasing
the profile of the organisation, for more than 30 years. He later
worked as a magistrate in Cheshire.
The group re-formed in the 1990s with Dee as lead vocalist
once again.
Dave Dee performed his last gig in Eisenburg,
Germany on 20 September 2008 and died in January 2009 at the age
of 65, following a three-year battle with cancer. A spokeswoman
for the family said that Dee died in Kingston Hospital, south-west
London following "a long and courageous battle" with
cancer.
TRIVIA NOTE
David Harmon (Dave Dee) was an ex-police cadet and was among the
police called to the scene of Eddie Cochran's fatal car crash in
April 1960.
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