Dave Edmunds
Encyclopedia
David 'Dave' Edmunds 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
.
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
.
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.
Edmunds's only acting
role followed, as a band
member in the David Essex
movie
, Stardust
. After learning the trade of producer, culminating in a couple of singles in the style of Phil Spector
, "Baby I Love You
" and "Born to Be with You
", he became linked with the pub rock movement of the early 1970s, producing Brinsley Schwarz
, Ducks Deluxe
, and also The Flamin' Groovies, using a stripped down, grittier sound. Edmunds had bought a house in Rockfield, Monmouth a few miles away from Charles and Kingsley Ward's Rockfield Studios
where he became an almost permanent fixture for the next twenty years. His working regime involved arriving at the studio in the early evening and working through till well after dawn, usually locked in the building alone. Applying the layered Spector sound to his own productions it was not unusual for Edmunds to multilayer up to forty separately recorded guitar tracks into the mix.
LP
from 1975, Subtle as a Flying Mallet
, was similar in style. The Brinsley Schwarz connection brought about a collaboration with Nick Lowe
starting with this album, and in 1976 they formed the group Rockpile
, with Billy Bremner
and Terry Williams
. Because Edmunds and Lowe signed to different record labels that year, they could not record as Rockpile until 1980, but many of their solo LPs (such as Nick Lowe's Labour of Lust
and Edmunds's own Repeat When Necessary
) were group recordings. Edmunds had more UK hits during this time, including Elvis Costello
's "Girls Talk", Nick Lowe's "I Knew The Bride", Hank DeVito's "Queen of Hearts
" (written for Edmunds and later a US hit for Juice Newton
), Graham Parker
's "Crawling from the Wreckage", and Melvin Endsley
's "Singing the Blues
" (originally a hit for Marty Robbins
).
Unexpectedly, after Rockpile released their first LP under their own name, Seconds of Pleasure
(1980), the band split, generally attributed to tensions not between Edmunds and Lowe but their respective managers. Edmunds and the band, including Nick Lowe, performed in a music video for the track, ""Girls Talk" directed by Martin Pitts, and produced by Derek Burbidge and Helen Pollack. For the video the band set up on the roof of the Warner Brothers Records building in Mid-Town Manhattan in the early afternoon causing a stir in offices in Rockefeller Center. Edmunds spent the 1980s collaborating with and producing an assortment of artists
, from Paul McCartney
to King Kurt
, and from Stray Cats
and Fabulous Thunderbirds to Status Quo. He recorded the soundtrack
for Porky's Revenge!, supplying the main theme, "High School Nights," and was the musical director for a television special starring Carl Perkins
, with assorted guests including George Harrison
, Ringo Starr
, and Rosanne Cash
.
On his 1983 release, Information, Edmunds collaborated on two songs with Jeff Lynne
, the leader of Electric Light Orchestra
. One of these songs, a Lynne composition, "Slipping Away", became Edmunds's only other US Top 40 hit, albeit just barely, spending a single week at #39 while having a video clip in heavy rotation on MTV. It was not a hit in the UK. In 1984, Lynne produced six tracks on Edmunds's following album, Riff Raff
.
In 1986, Dave Edmunds participated in Carl Perkins's Rockabilly Session television special to pay tribute to his hero. Other musicians involved in the project include George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Eric Clapton
.
for tours in 1992 and 2000. However, 2007 marked a return to touring for Edmunds, alongside Joe Brown
, on a lengthy tour around the UK. He made an appearance on stage alongside Stray Cats
, at the Brixton Academy in London, on 10 September 2008, playing "The Race Is On" and "Tear It Up" with the band.
In 1993 Edmunds unexpectedly found himself in Cardiff Crown Court as a co-defendant along with Shakin' Stevens facing charges of non-payment of playing royalties from former Sunsets' band members Robert Llewellyn, Carl Petersen, Steve Percy and Paul Dolan. The prosecution asserted that the former band members were due a share of those additional royalties that Stevens and Edmunds had received from the successful reissue of the album A Legend during the early eighties. The judge agreed and, while the unpaid royalties only amounted to around £70,000 to be divided between the four musicians, the associated court costs to be paid by Stevens and Edmunds amounted to £500,000. .
On New Year's Eve 2008 he appeared on Jools Holland
's annual Hootenanny, performing "Girls Talk" and "I Hear You Knocking". He was Holland's guest again at Borde Hill Garden
on 20 June 2009, on 28 August at open air concert
at Carrickfergus Castle
., 31 October at Ipswich Regent, 7 November at Stoke Victoria Hall and 14 November at Nottingham Concert Hall. Edmunds also played a five song set, including "I Hear You Knocking," "I Knew the Bride" and "Sabre Dance" with the Holland Big Band at the Royal Albert Hall on 27 November 2009.
He returned and performed Sabre Dance on Hootenanny on the 2009/10 edition.
with Brewers Droop:
as Dave Edmunds:
with Rockpile
:
as Dave Edmunds:
as Dave Edmunds:
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
singer, guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
and record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
. Although he is primarily associated with Pub rock
Pub rock (UK)
Pub rock was a rock music genre that developed in the mid 1970s in the United Kingdom. A back-to-basics movement, pub rock was a reaction against progressive and glam rock. Although short-lived, pub rock was notable for rejecting stadium venues and for returning live rock to the small pubs and...
and New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
, and had numerous hits
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
in the 1970s and early 1980s, his natural leaning has always been towards 1950s style rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
.
Early bands
As a teenagerAdolescence
Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...
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
Brian J. Ford
Brian J. Ford is an independent research biologist, author, and lecturer, who publishes on scientific issues for the general public...
. 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
Trio (music)
Trio is generally used in any of the following ways:* A group of three musicians playing the same or different musical instrument.* The performance of a piece of music by three people.* The contrasting section of a piece in ternary form...
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
Blues-rock
Blues rock is a hybrid musical genre combining bluesy improvisations over the 12-bar blues and extended boogie jams with rock and roll styles. The core of the blues rock sound is created by the electric guitar, piano, bass guitar and drum kit, with the electric guitar usually amplified through a...
sound, reuniting with Congo Jones and bassist John Williams and adding second guitarist Mickey Gee
Mickey Gee
Michael Richard 'Mickey' Gee was a rock and roll guitarist who played alongside some of the most prominent Welsh musicians of the last forty years.He died on 21 January 2009 in Cardiff from emphysema.-Career:...
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
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
a cover
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of "Morning Dew" on the Columbia
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
, that failed to have any chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
impact. After just eighteen months the core of 'Human Beans' formed a new band called Love Sculpture
Love Sculpture
Love Sculpture were a Welsh blues-rock band of the late 1960s, led by Dave Edmunds , plus bassist John Williams - stage name John David and drummer Rob 'Congo' Jones .-Career:Love...
that again reinstated Edmunds, Jones and Williams as a trio. Love Sculpture scored a quasi-novelty Top 5 hit by reworking Khachaturian's classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
piece "Sabre Dance
Sabre Dance
"The Sabre Dance" is a movement in the final act of the ballet Gayane , written by Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian's and completed in 1942. It evokes a whirling war dance in an Armenian dance, where the dancers display their skill with sabres. Its middle section incorporates an Armenian folk...
" as a speed-crazed rock number, inspired by Keith Emerson
Keith Emerson
Keith Noel Emerson is an English keyboard player and composer. Formerly a member of the Keith Emerson Trio, John Brown's Bodies, The T-Bones, V.I.P.s, P.P. Arnold's backing band, and The Nice , he was a founder of Emerson, Lake & Palmer , one of the early supergroups, in 1970...
's classical rearrangements. "Sabre Dance" became a hit after garnering the enthusiastic attention of British DJ
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
.
Solo career
After Love Sculpture split, Edmunds had a UK Christmas Number 1 singleSingle (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
in 1970 with "I Hear You Knocking
I Hear You Knocking
"I Hear You Knocking" is a popular rhythm and blues song with emphatic syncopation, written by Dave Bartholomew and Pearl King and published in 1955. The original recording was made by Smiley Lewis, reaching #2 on the Billboard R&B singles chart.The lyrics concern a former lover whose knocking at...
", a Smiley Lewis
Smiley Lewis
Smiley Lewis was an American New Orleans rhythm and blues musician. The journalist, Tony Russell, in his book The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray, stated "Lewis was the unluckiest man in New Orleans...
cover, which he came across while producing Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets
Shakin' Stevens
Shakin' Stevens, also known as "Shaky" is a platinum selling Welsh rock and roll singer and songwriter who holds the distinction of being the UK's biggest-selling singles artist of the 1980s . His recording and performing career began in the late 1960s, although it was not until 1980 that he saw...
' first album entitled A Legend. The recording was the first release on Edmunds's manager's MAM Records
MAM Records
MAM Records was a British record label launched in 1970 by the management company Management Agency & Music Ltd. . It was founded by Gordon Mills and Tom Jones and distributed by London Records...
label. This single also reached #4 in the US, making it Edmunds's biggest hit by far on either side of the Pond
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
. It sold over three million copies, and was awarded a gold disc
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
. Edmunds had intended to record Wilbert Harrison
Wilbert Harrison
Wilbert Harrison was an American rhythm and blues singer, pianist, guitarist and harmonica player.Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, Harrison had a Billboard #1 record in 1959 with the song "Kansas City". The song was written in 1952 and was one of the first credited collaborations...
's "Let's Work Together", but when he was beaten to that song by Canned Heat
Canned Heat
Canned Heat is a blues-rock/boogie rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965. The group has been noted for its own interpretations of blues material as well as for efforts to promote the interest in this type of music and its original artists...
, 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
Regal Zonophone Records
Regal Zonophone Records was a British record label formed in 1932, through a merger of the Regal Records and Zonophone Records labels. This followed the merger of those labels' respective parent companies - the Columbia Graphophone Company and the Gramophone Company - to form EMI.Originally Regal...
to use an option that it had to claim Edmunds's album, 1972's Rockpile
Rockpile (album)
Rockpile was the first solo album by Dave Edmunds, released in 1972. It is principally focused on remakes of late 1950s and early 1960s hits, with a few new songs included. Edmunds plays almost all the instruments except for bass and backing vocals, which are contributed by John Williams, Edmunds'...
, and the momentum from the single's success on a different label went away.
Edmunds's only acting
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
role followed, as a band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
member in the David Essex
David Essex
David Essex OBE is an English musician, singer-songwriter and actor. Since the 1970s, Essex has attained nineteen Top 40 singles in the UK , and sixteen Top 40 albums...
movie
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, Stardust
Stardust (1974 film)
Stardust is a 1974 British film directed by Michael Apted and starring David Essex and Adam Faith. The film is the sequel to the 1973 film That'll Be The Day...
. After learning the trade of producer, culminating in a couple of singles in the style of Phil Spector
Phil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....
, "Baby I Love You
Baby, I Love You
"Baby, I Love You" is a pop song written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, and Phil Spector, produced by Spector, and originally recorded in 1963 by The Ronettes...
" and "Born to Be with You
Born to Be with You (song)
"Born to Be with You" is a song written by Don Robertson. It was published in 1956.The biggest hit version was by The Chordettes in 1956. In 1968, Sonny James recorded a version of the song which reached number one on the country charts...
", he became linked with the pub rock movement of the early 1970s, producing Brinsley Schwarz
Brinsley Schwarz
Brinsley Schwarz were a 1970s English pub rock band, named after their guitarist Brinsley Schwarz. With Nick Lowe on bass and vocals, keyboardist Bob Andrews and drummer Billy Rankin, the band evolved from the 1960s pop band Kippington Lodge.-Formation:...
, Ducks Deluxe
Ducks Deluxe
Ducks Deluxe were an English pub rock band of the 1970s, who have recently reformed. Usually called "The Ducks" by their fans, they were known for up-tempo, energetic performances, and the successful careers of their members, after they disbanded.-History:...
, and also The Flamin' Groovies, using a stripped down, grittier sound. Edmunds had bought a house in Rockfield, Monmouth a few miles away from Charles and Kingsley Ward's Rockfield Studios
Rockfield Studios
Rockfield Studios, near Monmouth in Wales and just outside the village of Rockfield, Monmouthshire are where many of British rock music’s most successful recordings have been made.-History:...
where he became an almost permanent fixture for the next twenty years. His working regime involved arriving at the studio in the early evening and working through till well after dawn, usually locked in the building alone. Applying the layered Spector sound to his own productions it was not unusual for Edmunds to multilayer up to forty separately recorded guitar tracks into the mix.
Rockpile and other collaborations
His own soloSolo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
LP
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
from 1975, Subtle as a Flying Mallet
Subtle as a Flying Mallet
Subtle as a Flying Mallet was the second solo album by Dave Edmunds, principally focused on sound-alike remakes of late 1950s and early 1960s hits. All of the vocals are by Edmunds, and many of the songs are true solo efforts in that Edmunds also plays all the instruments...
, was similar in style. The Brinsley Schwarz connection brought about a collaboration with Nick Lowe
Nick Lowe
Nicholas Drain "Nick" Lowe , is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer.A pivotal figure in UK pub rock, punk rock and new wave, Lowe has recorded a string of well-reviewed solo albums. Along with vocals, Lowe plays guitar, bass guitar, piano and harmonica...
starting with this album, and in 1976 they formed the group Rockpile
Rockpile
Rockpile were a British rock and roll group of the late 1970s and early 1980s, noted for their strong rockabilly and power pop influences, and as a foundational influence on new wave...
, with Billy Bremner
Billy Bremner (musician)
William "Billy" Bremner is a guitarist best known for his work in the band Rockpile and on many of Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds' albums...
and Terry Williams
Terry Williams (drummer)
Terrence "Terry" Williams is a Welsh rock drummer, whose resume includes work for Dire Straits, B. B. King, and Bob Dylan....
. Because Edmunds and Lowe signed to different record labels that year, they could not record as Rockpile until 1980, but many of their solo LPs (such as Nick Lowe's Labour of Lust
Labour of Lust
Labour of Lust is an album by British singer-songwriter Nick Lowe. Also produced by Lowe, it was released in 1979 by Radar Records in the UK and Columbia Records in the US. It was recorded and released at the same time as Dave Edmunds' Repeat When Necessary and features the same Rockpile personnel...
and Edmunds's own Repeat When Necessary
Repeat When Necessary
Repeat When Necessary is an album by Welsh rock musician Dave Edmunds. Produced by Edmunds, it was released in 1979 by Swan Song Records...
) were group recordings. Edmunds had more UK hits during this time, including Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
's "Girls Talk", Nick Lowe's "I Knew The Bride", Hank DeVito's "Queen of Hearts
Queen of Hearts (song)
"Queen of Hearts" is the title of a country-pop song written by Hank DeVito, who was the pedal steel guitarist in Emmylou Harris' backing group The Hot Band in the early '80s....
" (written for Edmunds and later a US hit for Juice Newton
Juice Newton
Judith Kay "Juice" Newton is an American Pop music and Country singer, songwriter and guitarist...
), Graham Parker
Graham Parker
Graham Parker is a British rock singer and songwriter, who is best known as the lead singer of the popular British band Graham Parker & the Rumour.-Early career :...
's "Crawling from the Wreckage", and Melvin Endsley
Melvin Endsley
Melvin Endsley was a musician, singer, and songwriter best known for writing the song "Singing the Blues", along with over 400 songs recorded by hundreds of artists since 1956. Some of the artists that have recorded his songs include Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Andy Williams, Paul McCartney,...
's "Singing the Blues
Singing the Blues
"Singing the Blues" is a popular song written by Melvin Endsley and published in 1956. The best-known recording was released in October 1956 by Guy Mitchell and spent nine weeks at #1 on the U.S...
" (originally a hit for Marty Robbins
Marty Robbins
Martin David Robinson , known professionally as Marty Robbins, was an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist...
).
Unexpectedly, after Rockpile released their first LP under their own name, Seconds of Pleasure
Seconds of Pleasure
Seconds of Pleasure was a 1980 album by Rockpile, a band consisting of guitarists/vocalists Dave Edmunds and Billy Bremner, bassist/vocalist Nick Lowe, and drummer Terry Williams...
(1980), the band split, generally attributed to tensions not between Edmunds and Lowe but their respective managers. Edmunds and the band, including Nick Lowe, performed in a music video for the track, ""Girls Talk" directed by Martin Pitts, and produced by Derek Burbidge and Helen Pollack. For the video the band set up on the roof of the Warner Brothers Records building in Mid-Town Manhattan in the early afternoon causing a stir in offices in Rockefeller Center. Edmunds spent the 1980s collaborating with and producing an assortment of artists
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, from Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
to King Kurt
King Kurt
King Kurt was a 1980s psychobilly rock band from the UK. They formed in 1981 and split up in 1988, although they have reformed sporadically and played a reunion concert in 2010...
, and from Stray Cats
Stray Cats
Stray Cats are an American Rockabilly band formed in 1980 by guitarist/vocalist Brian Setzer , upright bassist Lee Rocker and Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in the UK, Australia and the U.S...
and Fabulous Thunderbirds to Status Quo. He recorded the soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
for Porky's Revenge!, supplying the main theme, "High School Nights," and was the musical director for a television special starring Carl Perkins
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954...
, with assorted guests including George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
, Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
, and Rosanne Cash
Rosanne Cash
Rosanne Cash is an American singer-songwriter and author. She is the eldest daughter of the late country music singer Johnny Cash and his first wife, Vivian Liberto Cash Distin....
.
On his 1983 release, Information, Edmunds collaborated on two songs with Jeff Lynne
Jeff Lynne
Jeffrey "Jeff" Lynne is an English songwriter, composer, arranger, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer who gained fame as the leader and sole constant member of Electric Light Orchestra and was a co-founder and member of The Traveling Wilburys together with George Harrison, Bob...
, the leader of Electric Light Orchestra
Electric Light Orchestra
Electric Light Orchestra were a British rock group from Birmingham who released eleven studio albums between 1971 and 1986 and another album in 2001. ELO were formed to accommodate Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne's desire to create modern rock and pop songs with classical overtones...
. One of these songs, a Lynne composition, "Slipping Away", became Edmunds's only other US Top 40 hit, albeit just barely, spending a single week at #39 while having a video clip in heavy rotation on MTV. It was not a hit in the UK. In 1984, Lynne produced six tracks on Edmunds's following album, Riff Raff
Riff Raff
Riffraff is a term for the common people or hoi polloi, but with negative connotations. The term is derived from Old French 'rif et raf' meaning 'one and all, every bit'Riff Raff, Riff-Raff, or Riffraff may also refer to:-In music:...
.
In 1986, Dave Edmunds participated in Carl Perkins's Rockabilly Session television special to pay tribute to his hero. Other musicians involved in the project include George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
.
Recent events
Edmunds recorded less frequently after the mid 1980s, living in Wales in semi-retirement, but occasionally touring. He joined up with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr BandRingo Starr & His All-Starr Band
To date, Ringo Starr has toured with eleven versions of his All-Starr Band where "everybody on stage is a star in their own right." Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band is a concept that was created by producer David Fishof...
for tours in 1992 and 2000. However, 2007 marked a return to touring for Edmunds, alongside Joe Brown
Joe Brown (singer)
Joe Brown, MBE is an English entertainer.He has worked as a rock and roll singer and guitarist for more than five decades. He was a stage and television performer in the late 1950s and a UK recording star in the early 1960s...
, on a lengthy tour around the UK. He made an appearance on stage alongside Stray Cats
Stray Cats
Stray Cats are an American Rockabilly band formed in 1980 by guitarist/vocalist Brian Setzer , upright bassist Lee Rocker and Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in the UK, Australia and the U.S...
, at the Brixton Academy in London, on 10 September 2008, playing "The Race Is On" and "Tear It Up" with the band.
In 1993 Edmunds unexpectedly found himself in Cardiff Crown Court as a co-defendant along with Shakin' Stevens facing charges of non-payment of playing royalties from former Sunsets' band members Robert Llewellyn, Carl Petersen, Steve Percy and Paul Dolan. The prosecution asserted that the former band members were due a share of those additional royalties that Stevens and Edmunds had received from the successful reissue of the album A Legend during the early eighties. The judge agreed and, while the unpaid royalties only amounted to around £70,000 to be divided between the four musicians, the associated court costs to be paid by Stevens and Edmunds amounted to £500,000. .
On New Year's Eve 2008 he appeared on Jools Holland
Jools Holland
Julian Miles "Jools" Holland OBE, DL is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer, and television presenter. He was a founder of the band Squeeze and his work has involved him with many artists including Sting, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, The Who, David Gilmour and Bono.Holland is a...
's annual Hootenanny, performing "Girls Talk" and "I Hear You Knocking". He was Holland's guest again at Borde Hill Garden
Borde Hill Garden
Borde Hill Garden is a garden located north of Haywards Heath, West Sussex in southern England. It features over of garden, park and woodlands accompanied by spectacular views across the Sussex High Weald....
on 20 June 2009, on 28 August at open air concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
at Carrickfergus Castle
Carrickfergus Castle
Carrickfergus Castle is a Norman castle in Northern Ireland, situated in the town of Carrickfergus in County Antrim, on the northern shore of Belfast Lough. Besieged in turn by the Scots, Irish, English and French, the castle played an important military role until 1928 and remains one of the best...
., 31 October at Ipswich Regent, 7 November at Stoke Victoria Hall and 14 November at Nottingham Concert Hall. Edmunds also played a five song set, including "I Hear You Knocking," "I Knew the Bride" and "Sabre Dance" with the Holland Big Band at the Royal Albert Hall on 27 November 2009.
He returned and performed Sabre Dance on Hootenanny on the 2009/10 edition.
Singles
| Release date | Title | Chart positions | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
Australia | Canada | U.S. Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
|||
| 1968 | with Love Sculpture Love Sculpture Love Sculpture were a Welsh blues-rock band of the late 1960s, led by Dave Edmunds , plus bassist John Williams - stage name John David and drummer Rob 'Congo' Jones .-Career:Love... : "Sabre Dance Sabre Dance "The Sabre Dance" is a movement in the final act of the ballet Gayane , written by Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian's and completed in 1942. It evokes a whirling war dance in an Armenian dance, where the dancers display their skill with sabres. Its middle section incorporates an Armenian folk... " |
5 | — | — | — | |
| 1970 | "I Hear You Knocking I Hear You Knocking "I Hear You Knocking" is a popular rhythm and blues song with emphatic syncopation, written by Dave Bartholomew and Pearl King and published in 1955. The original recording was made by Smiley Lewis, reaching #2 on the Billboard R&B singles chart.The lyrics concern a former lover whose knocking at... " |
1 | 4 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1971 | "I'm Comin' Home" | — | — | 36 | 75 | |
| 1971 | "Blue Monday" | — | — | — | 104 | |
| 1972 | "The Promised Land" | — | 5 | — | — | |
| 1973 | "Baby I Love You Baby, I Love You "Baby, I Love You" is a pop song written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, and Phil Spector, produced by Spector, and originally recorded in 1963 by The Ronettes... " |
8 | 48 | — | — | |
| 1973 | "Born to Be With You Born to Be with You (song) "Born to Be with You" is a song written by Don Robertson. It was published in 1956.The biggest hit version was by The Chordettes in 1956. In 1968, Sonny James recorded a version of the song which reached number one on the country charts... " |
5 | 96 | — | — | |
| 1976 | "Here Comes the Weekend" | — | — | — | — | |
| 1976 | "Where or When" | — | — | — | — | |
| 1977 | "JuJu Man" | — | — | — | — | |
| 1977 | "I Knew the Bride" | 26 | 32 | — | — | |
| 1978 | "Deborah" | — | — | — | — | |
| 1978 | "Television" | — | — | — | — | |
| 1979 | "A1 on the Jukebox" | — | — | — | — | |
| 1979 | "Girls Talk" | 4 | 9 | 18 | 65 | |
| 1979 | "Queen of Hearts Queen of Hearts (song) "Queen of Hearts" is the title of a country-pop song written by Hank DeVito, who was the pedal steel guitarist in Emmylou Harris' backing group The Hot Band in the early '80s.... " |
11 | 59 | — | — | |
| 1979 | "Crawling from the Wreckage" | 59 | — | — | — | |
| 1980 | Rockpile Rockpile Rockpile were a British rock and roll group of the late 1970s and early 1980s, noted for their strong rockabilly and power pop influences, and as a foundational influence on new wave... : "Teacher Teacher" |
— | 83 | 31 | 51 | Lead vocal by Nick Lowe Nick Lowe Nicholas Drain "Nick" Lowe , is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer.A pivotal figure in UK pub rock, punk rock and new wave, Lowe has recorded a string of well-reviewed solo albums. Along with vocals, Lowe plays guitar, bass guitar, piano and harmonica... |
| 1980 | "Singing the Blues Singing the Blues "Singing the Blues" is a popular song written by Melvin Endsley and published in 1956. The best-known recording was released in October 1956 by Guy Mitchell and spent nine weeks at #1 on the U.S... " |
28 | 67 | — | — | |
| 1981 | "Almost Saturday Night" | 58 | — | — | 54 | |
| 1981 | "The Race Is On" (with Stray Cats Stray Cats Stray Cats are an American Rockabilly band formed in 1980 by guitarist/vocalist Brian Setzer , upright bassist Lee Rocker and Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in the UK, Australia and the U.S... ) |
34 | — | — | — | |
| 1982 | "Run Rudolph Run Run Rudolph Run "Run, Rudolph, Run" is a Christmas song popularized by Chuck Berry and written by Johnny Marks and Marvin Brodie and published by St. Nicholas Music . The song was first recorded by Berry in 1958 and released as Chess Records 1714... " |
— | — | — | — | Party Party (film) Party Party (film) Party Party is a British comedy film about three friends and their South London crowd.This crowd includes workers, spivs and young police constables. A British entry into the teenage/youth house party genre typified by John Hughes' films and the late 80s movies of Kid and Play.The movie was... Soundtrack |
| 1983 | "Slipping Away" | 60 | — | — | 39 | |
| 1983 | "Information" | — | — | — | 106 | |
| 1985 | "High School Nights" | — | — | — | 95 | Porky's Revenge Porky's Revenge Porky's Revenge! is the 1985 third installment to the Porky's film trilogy. The film was directed by James Komack.-Plot:The sex-crazed teenagers of Angel Beach High School are back for the third and final time. They continue to be harassed by the gym teacher, Beulah Balbricker, who catches them... Soundtrack |
| 1990 | "Closer to the Flame" | — | — | 86 | — | |
| 1990 | "King of Love" | 68 | — | — | — | |
Studio albums
with Love Sculpture:- Blues Helping (December 1968)
- Forms and Feelings (January 1970)
with Brewers Droop:
- The Booze BrothersThe Booze BrothersThe Booze Brothers, featuring Mark Knopfler & Dave Edmunds, is the second album released by Brewers Droop, an English blues band. Although most of the tracks were recorded back in 1973 the album was only released in 1989 when it was discovered that the album had involved the renowned...
(recorded 1973, released 1989)
as Dave Edmunds:
- RockpileRockpile (album)Rockpile was the first solo album by Dave Edmunds, released in 1972. It is principally focused on remakes of late 1950s and early 1960s hits, with a few new songs included. Edmunds plays almost all the instruments except for bass and backing vocals, which are contributed by John Williams, Edmunds'...
(June 1972) (US #212) - Subtle as a Flying MalletSubtle as a Flying MalletSubtle as a Flying Mallet was the second solo album by Dave Edmunds, principally focused on sound-alike remakes of late 1950s and early 1960s hits. All of the vocals are by Edmunds, and many of the songs are true solo efforts in that Edmunds also plays all the instruments...
(April 1975) - Get It (April 1977) (US #209)
- Tracks on Wax 4Tracks on Wax 4Tracks on Wax 4 is a 1978 album by Dave Edmunds. The record was the first Edmunds solo effort to feature all four members of the band Rockpile: Edmunds, Billy Bremner , Nick Lowe, and Terry Williams.The album's eighth song, "Thread Your Needle", is sometimes incorrectly attributed as having...
(September 1978) (US #202) - Repeat When NecessaryRepeat When NecessaryRepeat When Necessary is an album by Welsh rock musician Dave Edmunds. Produced by Edmunds, it was released in 1979 by Swan Song Records...
(June 1979) (UK #39, US #54)
with Rockpile
Rockpile
Rockpile were a British rock and roll group of the late 1970s and early 1980s, noted for their strong rockabilly and power pop influences, and as a foundational influence on new wave...
:
- Seconds of PleasureSeconds of PleasureSeconds of Pleasure was a 1980 album by Rockpile, a band consisting of guitarists/vocalists Dave Edmunds and Billy Bremner, bassist/vocalist Nick Lowe, and drummer Terry Williams...
(October 1980) (UK #34, US #27)
as Dave Edmunds:
- Twangin...Twangin...Twangin'... is a 1981 album by Dave Edmunds, and his final recording for Swan Song Records before moving to the Columbia label. The album would also be the last Edmunds solo effort to feature the band he co-led at the time, Rockpile....
(April 1981) (UK #37) - D.E. 7thD.E. 7thD.E. 7th is a 1982 album by Welsh rock musician Dave Edmunds. The album was Edmunds' first project for Arista Records and Columbia Records , following a five-year stay with the Swan Song label.Besides the label switches, D.E...
(March 1982) (UK #60, US #46) - Information (April 1983) (UK #92, US #51)
- Riff RaffRiff Raff (album)Riff Raff is a 1984 album by Welsh rock musician Dave Edmunds. The album was his third release for Arista Records and Columbia Records , following 1983's Information....
(September 1984) (US #140) - Closer to the Flame (April 1990) (US #146)
- Plugged InPlugged In (album)Plugged In is a 1994 album by Welsh rock musician Dave Edmunds. The album, as of 2008, is the last completely new studio album released by Edmunds....
(August 1994) - Hand Picked: Musical Fantasies (January 2000)
Live albums
- I Hear You Rockin'I Hear You Rockin'I Hear You Rockin’ is an live album released by The Dave Edmunds Band in 1986 on Columbia LP record 40603.-Background:This “live” album was tweaked in the studio by Edmunds, who is known for his production perfectionism. It was to be his last solo effort for Columbia, and mostly features songs...
(June 1987) (US #106) - Live on the King Biscuit Flower Hour" (May 1999)
- A Pile of Rock: Live (September 2001)
- "C'Mon Everybody Live" (Same Source of King Biscuit Flower Hour - May 1999)(January 2004)
- Alive & Pickin (Canadian Mail Order Only)(February 2005)
Compilations
with Love Sculpture:- The Dave Edmunds & Love Sculpture Singles A's & B's - Harvest Heritage - EMI UK - 1980
as Dave Edmunds:
- The Best of Dave Edmunds (January 1982) (US #163)
- The Dave Edmunds Anthology (1968-1990) (April 1993)
- From Small Things: The Best of Dave Edmunds (April 2004)
- The Many Sides of Dave Edmunds: The Greatest Hits and More (September 2008)UK #38