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

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 'n' Roll" (written by the band), was released in April 1974. It reached number two in the UK singles chart. 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. Some of their best known cover versions are "Three Steps To Heaven", "Heartbeat", "Under The Moon Of Love", "You Got What It Takes", "Blue Moon" (based on The Marcels' interpretation), and "I Wonder Why".

In total they had ten Top Ten singles, a solitary number one, and spent 209 weeks in the UK singles chart. At the peak of their popularity, this tally included having seven, successive Top Five entries. Their biggest selling single was the aforementioned "Under The Moon Of Love", which sold 985,000 copies and gave the group its only UK number one.

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, in Leicester, England).
• Buddy Gask - Vocals - (born William Gask, 18 December 1948, in Leicester).
• Russ Field - Guitar - (born James Lewis Russell Field, 1 September 1949, in Berwick Upon Tweed).
• Trevor Oakes - Guitar - (born Trevor Leslie Oakes, 9 September 1946, in Leicester)
• Al James - Bass - (born Geoffrey Betts, 13 January 1946, in Leicester).
• Rod Deas - Bass - (born Roderick Sinclair Deas, 13 February 1948, in Scarborough, North Yorkshire).
• Malcolm "Duke" Allured - Drums - (born Malcolm J Allured, 27 August 1945, in 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

• 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.

External links

• Official Showaddywaddy Website
• Interviews from the Leicester Mercury, on the Leicester Bands website
• Showaddywaddy's Discography with UK Charts Info
• Showaddywaddy at MusicBrainz

References

1. Vinyltap limited - Jock Swon And The Metres (New Wave Band)
2. Ask Showaddywaddy a Question!

• Guinness Book of British Hit Singles - 16th Edition - ISBN 0-85112-190-X