Trevor Ward-Davies obituary

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jan/15/trevor-ward-davies-dozy

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Although they were not the most sophisticated of British pop groups, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich added to the gaiety of nations (especially of Germany and the UK) during their 1960s heyday. Between 1965 and 1969, DDDBM&T had more than a dozen hits with outrageous songs performed in suitably garish costumes on stage and on television. In that period, their records spent more weeks in the British singles chart than those of the Beatles.

The band’s founder was the bass player Trevor Ward-Davies (aka Dozy), who has died aged 70. Like the rest of the group, Ward-Davies hailed from the cathedral city of Salisbury, Wiltshire. By the late 1950s, he was leading a local semi-professional rock band called the Beatnicks. He recruited new members from other Salisbury groups, starting with lead guitarist Ian Amey (Tich) and the guitarist and singer David Harman (Dave Dee). Amey brought in a former schoolmate John Dymond (Beaky) on rhythm guitar and some time later the line-up was completed by the drummer Michael Wilson (Mick).

As Dave Dee and the Bostons, the group were in demand throughout Wiltshire and Dorset before obtaining a booking to play in several German cities. At the Star Club in Hamburg, the Bostons were one of a number of British groups who honed their skills in long sessions before enthusiastic local audiences.

The name Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich was chosen in 1965 by their new managers, Alan Howard and Ken Blaikley. Impressed by the group’s zany humour as well as their showmanship, Howard and Blaikley rechristened them by adopting the existing nicknames of the band members. Dozy had acquired his when he unwrapped a chocolate bar before absentmindedly discarding the bar and attempting to eat the wrapper.

The change was initially successful in attracting the attention of disc jockeys and television producers and the band made an early appearance on the cult show Ready Steady Go!, where an over-energetic performance resulted in Dozy losing three front teeth after a collision with a colleague’s guitar.

After a couple of flops, DDDBM&T had their first top 10 hit with Hold Tight! in early 1966. Over the next two years there were seven more, produced by an expatriate American, Steve Rowland, and composed by their managers; Dozy, Beaky and Dave wrote the B sides of most of the hit singles.

The hits included the mildly salacious Bend It!, the nonsensical Zabadak! and the exotic The Legend of Xanadu (their only no 1 hit). In the words of the music writer Johnny Rogan: “It was strictly formula pop, but executed with a camp flair and theatricalism that proved alarmingly irresistible.” While Dave Dee was the lead singer, famously cracking a whip in the Top of the Pops version of Xanadu, Dozy and the others supplied harmony vocals and choreographed stage movements.

By 1969, the hits were fading – the group’s final top 20 song, The Wreck of the Antoinette, opened with a brief Shakespearean recitation by Dozy – and Howard and Blaikley were preoccupied with their new discovery, The Herd. Dave Dee, by now a minor pop celebrity, left for a solo career and, eventually, a job as a record industry executive. Dozy’s response was: “We won’t break up due to Dave’s departure. We’ll wait and see the fans’ reaction.”

In the event, he and the others continued under the acronym DBMT, at first recording new songs of their own, but later providing the old hits for nostalgic audiences. With occasional breaks, a version of the band led by Dozy and Tich continued to tour in the UK and western Europe. In 2008, 40 years after Xanadu reached the top of the charts, the band was honoured with a blue plaque at Salisbury city hall.

Ward-Davies is survived by his wife, Yvonne.

• Trevor Leonard Ward-Davies (Dozy), bass guitarist and singer, born 27 November 1944; died 13 January 2015