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Showaddywaddy

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Showaddywaddy are a 1970s pop group from Leicester, UK. They specialised in revivals of hit songs from the 1950s, and dressed as Teddy Boys.

1 History
2 Band Members
3 Trivia
4 See also
5 External links
6 References

History

The band was formed in 1973 by the amalgamation of two groups, Choise and The Golden Hammers. This led to an eight member band, with the unusual feature of having two vocalists, a couple of drummers and two bassists. Their first single, "Hey Rock and Roll" (written by the band), was released in April 1974. It reached number two in the UK Singles Chart.^[1] Showaddywaddy then went on to have a further 22 UK hits from this point until late 1982. They had most of their biggest hits with covers of songs from the 1950s and 1960s. These cover versions included "Three Steps to Heaven" (originally by Eddie Cochran in 1960), "Heartbeat" (originally written and recorded by Buddy Holly), "Under the Moon of Love" (originally a U.S. hit for Curtis Lee in 1961 and co-written by Tommy Boyce), "When" (originally by the Kalin Twins), "You Got What It Takes" (originally by Marv Johnson) and "Dancin' Party" (originally by Chubby Checker). The above six singles were all produced by Mike Hurst (a former member of The Springfields, who had also previously produced Cat Stevens). Following "Dancin' Party" the band produced themselves with more cover versions including "I Wonder Why" (originally by Dion and the Belmonts), "Blue Moon" (based on The Marcels' interpretation) and another Curtis Lee original "Pretty Little Angel Eyes", again co-written by Tommy Boyce. Their most recent chart single was "Who Put the Bomp (In the Bomp-A-Bomp-A-Bomp)", a minor number 37 hit in 1982. In total they had ten Top Ten singles, a solitary number one ("Under the Moon of Love" in 1976), and spent 209 weeks in the UK Singles Chart.^[1] At the peak of their popularity, this tally included having seven, successive Top Five entries.^[1] Their biggest selling single was the aforementioned "Under the Moon of Love", which sold 985,000 copies.^[1] Despite the hits drying up over two decades ago, Showaddywaddy have continued to tour, and still do around 100 dates a year.

Band Members

The original Showaddywaddy line-up was:

Dave Bartram - Vocals - (born David Bartram, 23 March 1952, Leicester, England).
Buddy Gask - Vocals - (born William Gask, 18 December 1948, Leicester).
Russ Field - Guitar - (born James Lewis Russell Field, 1 September 1949, Berwick Upon Tweed).
Trevor Oakes - Guitar - (born Trevor Leslie Oakes, 9 September 1946, Leicester)
Al James - Bass - (born Geoffrey Betts, 13 January 1946, Leicester).
Rod Deas - Bass - (born Roderick Sinclair Deas, 13 February 1948, Scarborough, North Yorkshire).
Malcolm "Duke" Allured - Drums - (born Malcolm J Allured, 27 August 1945, Leicester).
Romeo Challenger - Drums - (born 19 May 1950, in Antigua, West Indies).

Malcolm Allured left the group in 1984, followed by Russ Field in 1985, and Buddy Gask in 1987. The remaining five originals continue to perform, having most recently added Danny Willson (brother of Ricky Willson, from the band Diesel Park West) to the present day, six man, line-up.

Trivia

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Oakes's sons Scott Oakes and Stefan Oakes, both played professional football, having come through the ranks of their hometown club Leicester City. Scott Oakes went on to play for Sheffield Wednesday, whilst Stefan Oakes later joined Notts County and Wycombe Wanderers.
One of Challenger's sons Ben Challenger is a professional athlete, competing in the high jump, and a former basketball player for the Leicester Riders and Birmingham Bullets.
Members of Showaddywaddy still campaign tirelessly for the welfare of orphan children in the town of Hastings, in East Sussex.
In 1987 the band appeared at a London concert as the special guests of the German industrial / experimental act Einstürzende Neubauten, in a kind of post-modern joke that both delighted and bemused the audience.
In 2000, Practical Classics magazine road-tested a Jensen Interceptor V8. It was discovered that the car was originally owned by a member of Showaddywaddy, and its fuel consumption was "firmly in the George Best league of fluid swallowing capabilities".
"Hey Mr. Christmas" was a seasonal offering from the band. It featured children from the National Children's Home, Harpenden, and the band gave some of the royalties to the National Children's Home. [1]
Comedian Hugh Dennis is fond of mentioning the group on the TV panel show, Mock The Week, usually as an impersonation of DJ Jimmy Savile announcing "The band was Showaddy... waddy". Dennis also frequently performs this impersonation on the radio show It's Been a Bad Week.
Original drummer Malc Allured, and his wife, own a nightclub called MFN near Nottingham.
In 1978, the band along with BBC Radio 1 DJs sang "New Wave Band (275/285)", under the alias Jock Swon and the Metres as part of the station's change of wavelength.^[2]^[3]
It is a common misconception that drummer Romeo Challenger is the father of footballer Dion Dublin, but this is not true, although Challenger is a friend of Dion's father Eddie Dublin. [2]
Dave Bartram said of fellow Leicester band Kasabian in Leicester Mercury "The whole attitude thing just smacks of Oasis coming round again. They need something more their own" to which Tom Meighan of Kasabian claimed that nobody in Leicester is proud of Showaddywaddy: "It ain't like the Beatles, no one gives a shit."