Freddie and the Dreamers were an English beat band that had a number of hit records between May 1963 and November 1965. The band's stage act was enlivened by the comic antics of the 5-foot-3-inch-tall Freddie Garrity, who would bounce around the stage with arms and legs flying. Freddie 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, vocals; Roy Crewdson, guitar; Derek Quinn, guitar and harmonica; Peter Birrell, bass; and Bernie Dwyer, drums. Although the band was 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. 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", "You Were Made For Me" and a cover of The G-Clefs "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" and "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, Cuckoo Patrol with Kenneth Connor and Victor Maddern and Every Day's A Holiday with Mike Sarne, Ron Moody and John Leyton. Between 1968 and 1973, Garrity and Birrell appeared in the UKITV children's show Little Big Time, a zany music/talent/adventure show with audience participation.
US fame
As the group's 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 singles were released by EMI's American arm Capitol Records, but neither sold well and Capitol dropped the group; therefore, the Dreamers' 1965 releases and re-releases appeared on assorted labels. There were also recordings 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 instructorArthur Murray on how to perform the routines. At their US peak, a television series featuring the band and British actorTerry-Thomas was proposed, but never came to light. On January 19, 1989 the group made a guest appearance performing "I'm Telling You Know" in the American version of the sitcom Dear John, airing on NBC-TV.
Legacy
In the 1980 Rolling Stone History of Rock & Roll, writer Lester Bangs paid tribute to the group: 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, 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 1960s hits as Nico. Simon Clarke is also a solo act and emigrated to Canada in 2003. Alan Edmondson is a music teacher.
