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Freddie and the Dreamers
Freddie Garrity, the frontman of the five-man group, is one of the most fondly remembered figures of sixties pop music. His eccentric skipping around the stage, allied with a high-pitched voice, was responsible for the band's great success during the British invasion of the American charts. Freddie Carity grew up in Collyhurst, Manchester, and worked as a shoe salesman,
engineer, milkman and brush salesman on leaving school. He was a fan of skiffle
music and formed a group (the Red Sox) with his brother. Garrity then formed the
Kingfishers who became Freddie and the Dreamers in 1961. The Dreamers consisted of Roy Crewsdon, Derek Quinn, Pete Birrell and Bernie Dwyer,
and they became a regular feature around Merseyside including performances at
the Cavern Club with the Beatles. They even joined The Beatles
in Hamburg in early 1963 and played several gigs in Germany. Back in Britain they did a slot
on a children's programme called John Barry. EMI heard them and signed them up
immediately. Garrity was becoming the main personality in the group and made a big impression when they played the Albert Hall that May. The following month they released a cover version of James Ray's, If You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody climbed the U.K. record charts to the number 3 position and led to a series of TV appearances, where audiences quickly remembered the band for their offbeat humour and stage antics. "We got a lot of plays for it on Radio Luxembourg, although James Ray's version was much better," said Garrity: 'We were seen on TV for the first time on Thank Your Lucky Stars and I came running down some steps, swinging my arms from right to left. It leapt up the charts after that. Let's face it, the dance routines made our records as our sound was thin and weedy.' Derek Quinn agrees: "Musically, we weren't that good. We thought that, if we did daft things, it would stop people noticing our faults. People came to see us because Freddie would leap all over the place. We actually got worse rather than better because we concentrated too much on dance routines." They turned to Mitch Murray (writer of some of Gerry and The Pacemakers' early hits) for their next two single releases - I'm Telling You Now, which went to number 2 in England and You Were Made For Me, that reached number 3. Their first album also sold well, peaking at No 5 on the UK album chart. They also appeared in the film What a Crazy World with Joe Brown and Marty Wilde in 1963 and they also made a guest appearance in Every Day's a Holiday (1965). Garrity led the group
on a tour of Australia and heard while there that I'm Telling You Now had gone
to No 1 in the States. That summer Garrity led the group on its first
US tour and Thou Shalt Not Steal was released simultaneously in both countries.
While they were
there, Garrity's stage antics gathered a cult following. On The Ed Sullivan Show
he was ask In February '68 they released Little Big Time, which failed to make any of the charts. The group decided to split up and Garrity formed another group under the same name to tour the clubs and "oldies" circuit. From 1971-73 Garrity fronted a children's show on ITV called Little Big Time. He also accepted stage work and appeared more in cameo roles in TV dramas (Heartbeat) and in quizzes (Never Mind the Buzzcocks). In 2001 he was taken seriously ill on a flight and rushed to hospital on landing, where it was discovered he was suffering from emphysema. He died in May 2006 while on holiday in Wales. Mourners at his funeral included Mourners included Brian Poole from Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, Tony Crane from the Merseybeats, Titch from Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Titch and members of Herman's Hermits. See Freddie at his manic best on the Ed Sullivan Show
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ed what the dance was called and he innocently replied, "It's The
Freddie." A song of the same name was rapidly written, with banal lyrics,
and it became very "in" for a few months. It was never released in the UK and the music press wrote the Dreamers off.