Dave Edmunds
Dave Edmunds (born
April 15,
1944) is a singer, guitarist and producer from
Cardiff,
Wales. Though he was primarily associated with
pub rock and
New Wave, and had numerous hits in the late 70's and early 80's, he was steadfastly devoted to pre-Beatles
rock and roll. An infrequent songwriter, Edmunds has largely relied on cover songs or custom-written material to sustain his career.
In the late 1960s he led a blues-rock trio called
Love Sculpture, who scored a quasi-novelty hit by reworking
Khachaturian's classical piece "
Sabre Dance" as a speed-crazed rock number. "Sabre Dance" became a hit after garnering the enthusiastic attention of British
DJ John Peel.
After Love Sculpture split, Edmunds had a number one single with "
I Hear You Knocking", a
Smiley Lewis cover. 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.
His own solo LP from that era,
Subtle As A Flying Mallet, was similar in style. In 1977, the Brinsley Schwarz connection brought about a collaboration with
Nick Lowe under the name
Rockpile, with
Billy Bremner and
Terry Williams. For contractual reasons they could not record as Rockpile until 1980, but contemporary solo LPs (such as Nick Lowe's
Labour of Lust and Edmunds' own
Repeat When Necessary) were in fact group recordings. Dave Edmunds had more hits during this time, including
Elvis Costello's "Girls Talk", Nick Lowe's "I Knew The Bride",
Hank DeVito's "
Queen of Hearts" ),
Graham Parker's "Crawling From The Wreckage", and
Melvin Endsley's "
Singing The Blues" (originally a hit for
Guy Mitchell).
Unexpectedly, after Rockpile relased their first LP under their own name (1980's
Seconds Of Pleasure), the band split, generally attributed to tensions between Edmunds and Lowe. Edmunds spent the 1980s collaborating with and producing an assortment of artists, from
Paul McCartney to King Kurt, and from
The Stray Cats 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 and 1984 releases,
Information and
Riff Raff, Edmunds collaborated on two songs with
Jeff Lynne, the lead musician of
Electric Light Orchestra. He recorded less frequently after the mid 1980s.
Edmunds now lives in
Wales in semi-retirement, touring Scandanavia infrequently, after surviving a quadruple bypass several years ago.
as
Love Sculpture:
Blues Helping (December 1968)
Forms and Feelings (January 1970)
as
Dave Edmunds' Rockpile:
Rockpile (June 1972)
as
Dave Edmunds:
Subtle As a Flying Mallet (April 1975)
Get It (April 1977)
Tracks on Wax 4 (September 1978)
Repeat When Necessary (June 1979)
as
Rockpile:
Seconds of Pleasure (October 1980)
as
Dave Edmunds:
Twangin' (April 1981)
D.E. 7th (March 1982)
Information (April 1983)
Riff Raff (September 1984)
I Hear You Rocking (June 1987)
Closer to the Flame (April 1990)
The Best of Dave Edmunds (March 1991)
The Anthology: 1968-1990 (April 1993)
Plugged In (August 1994)
Hand Picked: Musical Fantasies (January 2000)
A Pile of Rock: Live (September 2001)
From Small Things: The Best of Dave Edmunds (April 2004)
Alive and Pickin' (February 2005)
