Dave Edmunds

Dave Edmunds biography

David 'Dave' Edmunds (born 15 April 1944, Cardiff, Glamorgan, South Wales) is a Welsh singer, guitarist and record producer. Although he is primarily associated with pub rock and New Wave, and had numerous hits in the 1970s and early 1980s, his natural leaning has always been towards 1950s style rock and roll.

Career

Early bands

As a teenager Edmunds first played with a band called The Edmunds Bros Duo with his older brother Geoff (born in 1940, Cardiff) in 1954, a piano duo. Then the brothers were in The Stompers later called The Heartbeats formed in c 1957 with Geoff on rhythm guitar; Dave on lead guitar; Denny Driscoll on lead vocals; Johnny Stark on drums and Ton Edwards on bass. Then Dave and Geoff were in The 99ers along with scientist and writer Brian J. Ford. After that Dave Edmunds was in Crick Feather's Hill-Bill's formed in c 1960, with Feathers (Edmunds) on lead guitar; Zee Dolan on bass; Tennessee Tony on lead vocals; Tony Kees on piano and Hank Two Sticks on drums. The first group that Edmunds fronted was the Cardiff based 1950s style rockabilly trio The Raiders formed in 1961, along with Brian 'Rockhouse' Davies on bass and Ken Collier on drums. Davies was later replaced by bassist Mick Still and other members were Bob 'Congo' Jones on drums and John Williams (stage name John David) on bass, that worked almost exclusively in the South Wales area.

In 1966, after a short spell in Parlophone recording band The Image (1965-1966), with local drummer Tommy Riley, Edmunds shifted to a more blues-rock sound, reuniting with Congo Jones and bassist John Williams and adding second guitarist Mickey Gee to form the short lived Human Beans, a band that played mostly in London and on the UK university circuit. In 1967 the band recorded a cover of "Morning Dew" on the Columbia label, that failed to have any chart impact. After just eighteen months the core of 'Human Beans' formed a new band called Love Sculpture that again reinstated Edmunds, Jones and Williams as a trio. Love Sculpture scored a quasi-novelty Top 5 hit by reworking Khachaturian's classical piece "Sabre Dance" as a speed-crazed rock number, inspired by Keith Emerson's classical rearrangements. "Sabre Dance" became a hit after garnering the enthusiastic attention of British DJ John Peel.

Solo career

After Love Sculpture split, Edmunds had a UK Christmas Number 1 single in 1970 with "I Hear You Knocking", a Smiley Lewis cover, which he came across while producing Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets' first album entitled A Legend. The recording was the first release on Edmunds's manager's MAM Records label. This single also reached #4 in the US, making it Edmunds's biggest hit by far on either side of the Pond. It sold over three million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. Edmunds had intended to record Wilbert Harrison's "Let's Work Together", but when he was beaten to that song by Canned Heat, he adapted the arrangement he intended to use for it to "I Hear You Knocking", producing a highly original remake. Unfortunately, the success of the single caused EMI's Regal Zonophone Records to use an option that it had to claim Edmunds's album, 1972's Rockpile, and the momentum from the single's success on a different label went away.

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