Freddie and the Dreamers

Freddie and the Dreamers

Freddie and the Dreamers in 1964. From left to right, Bernie Dwyer, Pete Birrell, Freddie Garrity, Derek Quinn, Roy Crewdson
Background information
Origin Manchester, England
Genres Beat, Pop, Rock and roll
Years active 1963–2000
Labels Columbia (EMI) (UK); Capitol, Tower, Mercury (US)
Past members Founding members
Freddie Garrity
Roy Crewdson
Derek Quinn
Peter Birrell
Bernie Dwyer

Later members
Alan Rose
Kev Ryan
Trev Bullock
Giorgio Uccellini
Alan Mosca
Brian Byng
Steve Smith
John D.D. Williams
Denis Smith
Tony Brooke
Stuart Simpson
Ritchie Madden
Spencer Montgomery
Paul Atack
Andy Wells
Gary Smith
Gary Rudd
John Denny jnr
Paul Maddern
Hugh Whitaker
Noel Walsh
Keith Roberts
Ray Barlow
Eamonn Carr
Nick Foti
Alan Edmundson
Simon Clarke

Freddie and the Dreamers were an English band who had a number of hit records between May 1963 and November 1965. Their stage act was enlivened by the comic antics of the 5-foot-3-inch-tall (1.60m) Freddie Garrity, who would bounce around the stage with arms and legs flying. The group remained active until December 2000 when they played their final gig at Margate Winter Gardens. After that date, Garrity was told by his doctor that due to his pulmonary hypertension it was not advisable for him to continue working, and he officially retired from all work in February 2001. He died in Bangor, North Wales, on 19 May 2006.

UK history

The band consisted of Freddie Garrity (14 November 1936 – 19 May 2006),[1] vocals; Roy Crewdson (born 29 May 1941), guitar; Derek Quinn (born 24 May 1942, Manchester), guitar and harmonica; Peter Birrell (born 9 May 1941, Manchester), bass; and Bernie Dwyer (11 September 1940 – 4 December 2002), drums.

Although the band were grouped as a part of the Merseybeat sound phenomenon that The Beatles exploded around the world in the wake of Beatlemania, they came from Manchester. Prior to becoming a singer, Garrity had worked as a milkman in Manchester.[2]

They had four Top 10 UK hits: a cover of James Ray's hit "If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody", which reached number 3 in the UK Singles Chart in mid-1963, "I'm Telling You Now" (number 2 in August), "You Were Made For Me" (number 3 in November) and "I Understand", which hit the number 5 spot in November 1964.

Session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan played on a couple of the records,"I Understand", "A Little You", "Thou Shalt Not Steal", "Just For You" ".

On stage the group performed pre-rehearsed, synchronised wacky dance routines. They appeared in four British films: What a Crazy World with Joe Brown, Just for You, The Cuckoo Patrol and Every Day's A Holiday (US title Seaside Swingers) with Mike Sarne, Ron Moody and John Leyton.

Between 1970 and 1973 Garrity and Birrell appeared in the UK ITV children's show Little Big Time, a zany music/talent/adventure show with audience participation.[3]

The group made a guest appearance in the BBC sitcom Dear John.

US fame

As their popularity declined in the UK, Freddie and the Dreamers enjoyed a brief spell of fame in the US, riding the wave of the British Invasion when the American teen public was hungry for any British pop music. Unlike many British EMI groups at that time, two of their singles ("I'm Telling You Now" and "You Were Made for Me") were released by EMI's American arm Capitol Records, but neither sold well and Capitol dropped them; therefore, the Dreamers' 1965 releases and re-releases appeared on assorted labels. They recorded on Capitol's new subsidiary Tower, and Philips' Mercury label.

"I'm Telling You Now", which had been co-written by Garrity and Mitch Murray, reached number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in spring 1965. They were the first of three consecutive groups from Manchester to have number 1 hits that spring, the others being Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders and Herman's Hermits. Their next biggest US hit was "Do the Freddie" at number 18, intended to inspire 'The Freddie' as a dance craze. The band's late 1965 album, Do the Freddie, included diagrams from dance instructor Arthur Murray on how to perform the routines.

At their US peak, a television series featuring the band and British actor Terry-Thomas was proposed, but never happened.

Legacy

In the 1980 Rolling Stone History of Rock & Roll, writer Lester Bangs paid tribute (of a kind) to the group:

"Freddie and the Dreamers [had] no masterpiece but a plentitude [sic] of talentless idiocy and enough persistence to get four albums and one film soundtrack released ... the Dreamers looked as thuggish as Freddie looked dippy ... Freddie and the Dreamers represented a triumph of rock as cretinous swill, and as such should be not only respected, but given their place in history."

In an interview, Paul McCartney said that the Freddie and the Dreamers version of "If You Gotta Make A Fool of Somebody" was copied from an arrangement performed by The Beatles at a show in The Cavern. The Dreamers released their copied version of the song as a single, leaving the Beatles uncredited. Because of this incident, the Beatles decided to concentrate on their own compositions, rather than cover versions. The Beatles later forgave the Dreamers, and invited them to do a guest appearance in their 1964 Christmas Special.

Freddie and the Dreamers remained a touring band into the 2000s; with a few different line-ups of newer Dreamers which included: Paul Atack, Ray Barlow, Brian Byng, Trev Bullock, Tony Brooke, Eamonn Carr, John Denny jr., Spencer Montgomery, Alan Mosca, Alan Rose, Gary Rudd, Kev Ryan, Stuart Simpson, Gary Smith, Giorgio Uccellini, Paul Madden, Ritchie Madden, Hugh Whitaker, Noel Walsh, and Andy Wells. They appeared with other artists from the same era, such as Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Troggs and Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits and the Rockin' Berries. Ritchie Madden, Spencer Montgomery, and Ray Barlow and Stuart Simpson also toured as Herman's Hermits backing group.

Garrity retired in February 2001, along with his last Dreamers (Nick Foti, Simon Clarke and Alan Edmundson), due to pulmonary hypertension, and died on 19 May 2006. Drummer Dwyer died on 4 December 2002 from lung cancer; Birrell became a taxicab driver. Crewdson now runs Dreamers bar in Tenerife, while Quinn lives in Cheshire and is in the distribution business. Eamonn Carr heads The New Dreamers touring band. Nick Foti is to be seen playing all Freddie's hits and other sixties hits as Nico Simon Clarke is also a solo act and emigrated to Canada in 2003. Alan Edmondson is a music teacher.

Discography

Singles

Single (A-Side, B-Side)
Both sides from same album except where indicated		 U.K. U.S.
Year Label & number UK Singles Chart[4] Album Year Label & number U.S. Hot 100 Album
"If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody"
b/w "Feel So Blue" (Non-album track)		 1963 Columbia DB 7032 3 Freddie and The Dreamers N/A A: Non-album track
B: Do The Freddie
"I'm Telling You Now"
b/w "What Have I Done To You"		 1963 Columbia DB 7086 2 A: Sing-Along Party[B]
B: Non-album track		 1963
1964		 Capitol 5053
Tower 125		 —
1		 I'm Telling You Now[A]
"You Were Made for Me"
b/w "Send A Letter To Me" (Non-album track)		 1963 Columbia DB 7147 3 A: Sing-Along Party[B]
B: Non-album track		 1963 Capitol 5137 — Three At The Top[A]
"Over You"
b/w "Come Back When You're Ready"		 1964 Columbia DB 7214 13 Non-album tracks N/A
"You Were Made for Me"
b/w "So Fine" (By The Beat Merchants)		 N/A A: Sing-Along Party[B]
B: Non-album track		 1964 Tower 127 21 A: Three At The Top[A]
B: Non-album track
"I Love You Baby"
b/w "Don't Make Me Cry"		 1964 Columbia DB 7286 16 Non-album tracks 1964 Mercury 72285 — Non-album tracks
"Just for You"
b/w "Don't Do That To Me"		 1964 Columbia DB 7322 41 Non-album tracks 1964 Mercury 72327 — Do The Freddie
"I Understand (Just How You Feel)"
b/w "I Will"		 1964 Columbia DB 7381 5 Non-album tracks 1965 Mercury 72377 36 A: Freddie & The Dreamers
B: Non-album track
"A Little You"
b/w "Things I'd Like To Say"		 1965 Columbia DB 7526 26 Non-album tracks 1965 Mercury 72462 48 Do The Freddie
"Do The Freddie"
b/w "Tell Me When"		 N/A A: Non-album track
B: You Were Mad For Me		 1965 Mercury 72428 18 A: Do The Freddie
B: Freddie & The Dreamers
"Send a Letter to Me"
b/w "There's Not One Thing" (By Just Four Men)		 N/A 1965 Tower 163 123 A: Three At The Top[A]
B: Non-album track
"Thou Shalt Not Steal"
b/w "I Don't Know"		 1965 Columbia DB 7720 44 Non-album tracks N/A A: Fun Lovin' Freddie
B: Non-album track
"I Don't Know"
b/w "Windmill In Old Amsterdam"		 N/A 1965 Mercury 72487 — A: Non-album track
B: Frantic Freddie
"If You've Gotta Minute Baby"
b/w "When I'm Home With You"		 1966 Columbia DB 7857 — Non-album tracks 1966 Mercury 72548 — Non-album tracks
"Playboy"
b/w "Some Day"		 1966 Columbia DB 7929 — Non-album tracks N/A
"Some Day"
b/w "Short Shorts"		 N/A 1966 Mercury 72604 — A: Non-album track
B: Frantic Freddie
"Turn Around"
b/w "Funny Over You"		 1966 Columbia DB 8033 — Non-album tracks N/A A: Non-album track
B: Fun Lovin' Freddie
"Hello, Hello"
b/w "All I Ever Want Is You"		 1967 Columbia DB 8137 — N/A
"Brown & Porter's (Meat Explorers) Lorry"
b/w "Little Brown Eyes"		 1967 Columbia DB 8200 —
"Little Big Time"
b/w "You Belong To Me" (Freddy Garrity solo track)		 1968 Columbia DB 8496 —
"It's Great"
b/w "Gabardine Mac"		 1968 Columbia DB 8517 —
"Get Around Downtown Girl"
b/w "What To Do"		 1969 Columbia DB 8606 —
"Susan's Tuba"[C]
b/w "You Hurt Me Girl"		 1971 Philips 6006 098 —
"Susan's Tuba"[C]
b/w "She Needs Me"		 N/A 1970 Super K 146 — Non-album tracks
"Here We Go"
b/w "I Saw You"		 1978 Polydor 2059 041 — Breaking Out N/A

EPs (UK)

Albums (UK)

Albums (US)

See also

References

  1. ↑ Matthew Bannister (26 May 2006). "Freddie Garrity". News & Current Affairs: Last Word. BBC. Retrieved 6 January 2007.
  2. ↑ Daily Telegraph 'Dreamers' star Freddie Garrity dies. 20 May 2006 Accessed August 2007
  3. ↑ Nostalgia Central Little Big Time and Oliver in the Overworld
  4. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.

External links

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