Dave Dee

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.{{cite web|title= Seance with a gretsch g 6120 | url = http://www.gadflyonline.com/9-10-01/music-eddie-cochran.HTML|author = Ian Kimmet|date=9 October 2001}}

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Harman’s professional career as a singer started 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.{{Cite web |title= Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich Biography |website=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/dave-dee-dozy-beaky-mick-tich-mn0000683085/biography}} As The Bostons, they toured the UK and Germany and were a support act to The Honeycombs in 1964.Larkin C 'Virgin Encyclopedia of Sixties Music' (Muze UK Ltd, 1997) {{ISBN|0-7535-0149-X}} p141 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,{{Cite web |title=BBC - Top of the Pops 2 - Where Are The Now? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/totp2/artists/d/dee_dave/located/page2.shtml |access-date=2023-07-27 |website=www.bbc.co.uk}} the group signed on to Fontana Records, and changed their name to Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich as 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”.{{Cite web |title=Ken Howard - Alan Blaikley - Biography |url=http://www.kenhoward-alanblaikley.com/biography/index.html |access-date=2023-07-27 |website=www.kenhoward-alanblaikley.com}}

The band’s first major selling record was Hold Tight. The song peaked at number four on the Official Singles Chart (OSC){{Cite web |title=Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich Official Singles Chart |website=Official Charts |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/5189/Dave-Dee-Dozy-Beaky-Mick-Tich/}} 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".{{cite book |last=Roberts |first=David |title=British Hit Singles & Albums |publisher=Guinness World Records Limited |year=2006 |isbn=1-904994-10-5 |edition=19th |location=London |page=146}} 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.{{cite book |last1=Matthews |first1=Simon |title=Psychedelic Celluloid: British Pop Music in Film & TV 1965 - 1974 |date=27 October 2016 |publisher=Oldcastle Books |page=192 |isbn=9781843444589 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R_ZEDQAAQBAJ&dq=every+home+should+have+one+dave+dee&pg=PT193 |access-date=8 July 2021}} 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, Spain in 1987, Dave refused to move, and left the group.{{Cite web |title=Band Biography part 6 - 1990-now |url=http://www.dddbmt.com/eng/bio-band6.htm |access-date=2023-11-05 |website=www.dddbmt.com}} He later began performing live gigs with the band again when they returned to England again after only two years, however Harman wouldn’t return to the group as a permanent member, and would occasionally appear at concerts. Harman continued to record occasionally both with DDDBMT and as a solo act.

Soon after leaving the group, he released the single "My Woman's Man" which reached No. 42 in the UK and No. 58 in Australia. He issued six further solo singles through the end of 1971, all of which failed to chart, and played a Hells Angel in the Marty Feldman comedy film Every Home Should Have One in 1970. He also played himself (billed as 'Record Executive') in the 1980 Sex Pistols mockumentary film The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle. He issued his only solo album, Unfinished Business, in 1995.

Starting in 1987, when DDDBMT had moved to Spain and Dave was left on his own, Harman began frequently collaborating with the Scottish band Marmalade. This collaboration was responsible for two Dave Dee record releases. In 1989 they released the single "Scirocco" as Marmalade & Dave Dee. Although not an official member, Dave Dee would continue to guest appear at concerts from then onwards until his death.

After a few charting songs, he then retired from performing and became an A&R Manager for Atlantic, Magnet and WEA Records, during which period he was at least partly responsible for their signing AC/DC, Boney M and Gary Numan.{{Cite journal |last=Jones |first=Tim |date=March 2009 |title=Dave Dee (obituary) |url=http://recordcollectormag.com/issue-detail/360 |journal=Record Collector |volume=360 |pages=22}}

In 1980, Harman opened and ran a short lived record company called Double D Records at 25 Burton Street in London.{{Cite web |title=Dave Dee (2) |url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/599276-Dave-Dee-2 |access-date=2023-07-27 |website=Discogs |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Double D Records - Music label - RYM/Sonemic |url=https://rateyourmusic.com/label/double_d_records_f2/ |access-date=2023-07-27 |website=Rate Your Music |language=en}} Double D Records were also distributors for Pye Records, and they produced twelve singles between 1980 and 1981.

Dee also became a businessman and founder committee member for disadvantaged children through the charity Nordoff-Robbins, which he helped found and worked with for over 30 years.

Dee became a magistrate. In his later years, he lived in Mobberley, Cheshire, and fathered twin sons and a daughter. He was married to Joanne Parris when he died.

Dee suffered from prostate cancer from early 2001, but he continued to perform with his band almost until his death from the disease in Kingston Hospital, Surrey, on 9 January 2009.{{cite news|author=Alan Clayson |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/jan/09/dave-dee-obituary |title=Obituary: Dave Dee|newspaper=The Guardian |date= 9 January 2009|accessdate=31 December 2011 |location=London}} He was 67.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/4208929/Dave-Dee.html|title=Dave Dee Former policeman who surfed the 1960s pop-wave as front man with Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich|date=9 January 2009|newspaper=The Telegraph}}

{{Main articles|Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich discography}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.dddbmt.com/ The Band's official website]
• {{IMDb name|0214161}}

{{Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich}}

{{Marmalade (band)}}

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Category:1941 births

Category:2009 deaths

Category:Musicians from Salisbury

Category:English male singers

Category:English male songwriters

Category:English pop singers

Category:A&R people

Category:Officers in English police forces

Category:20th-century English singers

Category:20th-century English male singers

Category:20th-century English businesspeople

Category:Deaths from prostate cancer in England