Dave Dee

David John Harman, known professionally as Dave Dee (17 December 1941 – 9 January 2009), was an English singer-songwriter, musician, A&R manager, fundraiser and businessman. He was the frontman for the 1960s pop band Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich.

Dave Dee was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, and attended Adcroft School of Building, Trowbridge. Upon leaving school he became a police cadet with the Wiltshire Constabulary. He was one of the first on the scene of the April 1960 car crash that resulted in the death of American rock and roll musician Eddie Cochran and serious injury to Gene Vincent. He later recounted that he started learning to play the guitar using Cochran's impounded Gretsch over several nights at the station.

Harman's professional career as a singer began in the early 1960s when he formed the group Dave Dee and The Bostons with friends Trevor Ward-Davies, John Dymond, Michael Wilson, and Ian Amey. As The Bostons, they toured the UK and Germany and were a support act to The Honeycombs in 1964. Known for their variety act, which included comedy routines and risque comments interspersed amongst the song, they were then discovered by Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley. After a disastrous audition for Joe Meek which resulted in Meek throwing his coffee all over his studio in a fit of rage due to the group not wanting to comply with his demands, the group signed on to Fontana Records, and changed their name to Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich. According to their producer Ken Howard: "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 band’s first major-selling record was "Hold Tight". The song peaked at number four on the Official Singles Chart (OSC) and the song was performed on shows such as Top of the Pops, Blue Peter and Beat-Club. Their other top-ten UK hits included "Hideaway", "Bend It!", "Save Me", "Okay!", "Zabadak!" and "Last Night in Soho". They also scored a number one hit in the UK Singles Chart in 1968 with "The Legend of Xanadu".

Dee left the band to become a solo artist in September 1969. He eventually reunited with Dozy, Beaky, Micky and Tich for a 1974 single, and then later produced (but did not appear on) a 1979 single done by the DBMT quartet. Harman returned to DDDBMT in 1982; however, when the group decided to migrate to Marbella in Spain in 1987, he refused to move, and left the group. When the group returned to England again after only two years, Harman again began performing live gigs with them again; however, he did not return to the group as a permanent member, and would occasionally appear at concerts. He continued to record occasionally both with DDDBMT and as a solo act.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.