About Me
Freddie and the Dreamers were a British musical band who had a number of hit records between May 1963 and November 1965. Their act was based around the comic antics of the 5-foot-3-inch-tall (1.60m) Freddie Garrity, who was famous for bouncing around the stage with arms and legs flying.This Manchester-born and raised group was briefly renowned for its mixture of beat music and comedy. Former milkman Freddie Garrity joined the group in 1960 and the band remained semi-professional until passing a BBC audition in 1963. Although their debut, If You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody, was an R&B favourite, subsequent releases were tailored to the quintet's effervescent insouciant image.I'm Telling You Now and You Were Made For Me also reached the UK Top 3, establishing the group at the height of the beat boom. Although Garrity displayed his song writing skill with strong ballads such as Send A Letter To Me, his work was not used for A-side recordings.Further hits followed in 1964 with Over You, I Love You Baby, Just For You, and the Christmas season favourite I Understand (cleverly intertwined with Auld Lang Syne). The band enjoyed great success, headlining concert tours all over the world, and early in 1965, they made a startling breakthrough in America where I'm Telling You Now topped the charts, reaching Number 1 on April 10.The British Invasion had its good-natured clowns, and they were Freddie and the Dreamers. Although the Liverpool scene was eventually more famous, nearby Manchester was the scene of equal musical activity. Freddie Garrity (born 14 November 1940) was caught up in the skiffle craze of the late 1950s in England, learning to play guitar. Skiffle was the last truly amateur musical form the punk music boom twenty years laters, and as with punk, skiffle bands formed for fun, and technical ability counted far less than enthusiasm. A bespectacled young man bearing a resemblance to Buddy Holly, Freddie looked like a bookish nerd with a cackling laugh, and performed with comic, acrobatic, exagerrated dancing meant to elicit a smile. He performed with such groups as The Red Sox and The Kingfishers before deciding to form his own group. The other Dreamers were all local Mancunians as well: Pete Birrell (9 May 1941) on bass, Roy Crewsdon (20 May 1941) on guitar, Bernie Dwyer (11 September 1940) on drums, and Derek Quinn (24 May 1942) on lead guitar.
The band auditioned for BBC radio in 1961 and subsequently appeared on Let's Go and on The Beat Show radio programs. They followed this with touring in England and with a residency at The Top Ten Club in Hamburg, Germany, much the same as The Beatles and other northern British acts had done. In late 1962 they turned professional and signed with EMI/Columbia Records. In May 1963, their first single came out, a cover of James Ray's If You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody, and reached 2 on the U.K. singles chart. Like most groups of the era, they didn't write much of their own material, and relied on producers to choose material for the records. The successful pop hit writer Mitch Murray provided the band's next two chart successes, both of which were hits later in 1963. These were I'm Telling You Now and You Were Made For Me, both of which were light, bright pop tunes - not deep, but catchy. This is the sound the group became known for. They toured with Roy Orbison and appeared in the movie What A Crazy World. At this time, the group was regarded as being among the top British bands of their day. Soon, it would be The Beatles who would set a new standard of respect and longevity achieved largely by composing their own material.American audiences were entranced by Garrity's zany stage antics (which resulted in frequent twisted ankles) and eagerly demanded the name of his unusual dance routine. "It's called the Freddie", he innocently replied. A US Top 20 hit rapidly followed with Do The Freddie.1964 also saw the boys playing the parts of the kitchen staff at a holiday camp in the movie Every Day's A Holiday (released as Seaside Swingers in the USA). Although the group appeared in a couple of other films -Just For You and Cuckoo Patrol - their main audience was in pantomime and cabaret.Freddie and the Dreamers disbanded in the late 1960s. During the mid-70s the group was reformed by Freddie Garrity, with new personnel, for revival concerts at home and abroad (I actually saw them perform in a shopping centre in Australia which was bizarre). In 1988, Garrity began performing in cabaret and a parallel acting career. He eventually retired due to pulmonary hypertension, and sadly died on May 19th 2006. Bernie Dwyer died of lung cancer on December 4th 2002.After his TV career ended, Garrity formed a new version of Freddie and the Dreamers and toured regularly for the next two decades, but no further records or chart success came their way. He continued to perform until 2001 when he was diagnosed with emphysema after collapsing during a flight, thus forcing him into retirement.With his health in decline, Garrity settled in Newcastle-under-Lyme. He was married three times and had four children. Freddie Garrity died at Bangor in North Wales, at the age of 69, after being taken ill while on holiday.
