In the late 1950s, four lads were milling around Wiltshire with little more than guitars and ludicrous nicknames. At the start of our story, these lads were all in bands of one sort or another, though not yet in the same band. The seed of Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich started to germinate when bassist with the Beatniks, Trevor Davies (known to his friends as 'Dozy'), poached guitarist Ian 'Tich' Amey away from Eddie and the Strollers.

Such was the appeal of the Beatniks that they also managed to steal two members of the Big Boppers: singer David Harman (or 'Dave Dee', as he preferred to be known) and guitarist John 'Beaky' Dymonds. The foursome started gigging as the backing group to another local - Ronnie Blonde - until Ronnie failed to turn up one night. Dave stepped in as the lead vocalist for the evening, and eventually took over permanently when Ronnie left them for the Coasters.

The four remaining Beatniks carried on as Dave Dee and the Bostons and were joined, in the traditional manner, by a succession of short-lived drummers, until late 1961, when Dave found himself sitting next to a drummer by the name of Michael Wilson on a bus. After finding himself a nickname - the somewhat uninspired 'Mick' - Michael was allowed to join the Bostons, and things could start in earnest.

'Hold Tight'

The first few years weren't exactly easy for the band - they still lived with their parents and had little money, having all given up 'proper' jobs to concentrate on the music industry¹. The lads couldn't even afford to buy their own equipment outright, but had to get it on hire-purchase, using whatever they earned from performing to pay off their debts. At that time, up-and-coming rock-and-roll bands weren't exactly the flavour of the month in southern England, and the band had to struggle to get gigs. Dave recalls the story of a journey from Southampton, on the English south coast, to Thurso, in the north of Scotland (nearly 700 miles or 1100km), for the thrill of a £17 payout.

As many of their contemporaries did - most famously The Beatles - the Bostons decided to try their luck in Germany. They undertook a gruelling series of gigs in Hannover, Cologne and Hamburg, often simply crashing in the clubs after the performance as they couldn't afford anywhere to stay. Though exhausting, their German experience improved the standard of the band's performances, and also allowed them to develop their on-stage persona. Dave, in particular, took the opportunity to regale the audiences with a series of smutty jokes and banter. What their German odyssey didn't immediately lead to, however, was a recording contract, and the band resorted to playing at holiday camps to pay the bills.

'All I Want'

The band's big break came when they were asked to return to their home county to support the Honeycombs at a gig in Swindon. Their performance during the gig so impressed the Honeycombs' manager, Alan Blaikley, and his songwriting partner Ken Howard that they immediately had the band signed to the Fontana record label. Blaikley and Howard also decided that the name 'Dave Dee and the Bostons' wasn't going to cut it, and persuaded the lads to string their nicknames together.

The newly renamed Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich released three singles in 1965, although the first two of these - 'No Time' and 'All I Want' - failed to make the charts. Finally, with the release of 'You Make It Move', the lads tasted chart success, reaching the heady heights of Number 26. At last they could stop worrying about the money they still owed on their equipment and enjoy the lives of pop stars.

After their initial success, things went from strength to strength over the next three years, with eight of their next nine singles reaching the top ten. Only 'Touch Me, Touch Me' let them down by peaking at a mere Number 13. The highlight of this golden period in the band's history was undoubtedly their first, and only, Number One hit, 'The Legend of Xanadu'. The band also turned out several albums over the years 1966 - 1968, including Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich and If Music Be The Food Of Love... Prepare For Indigestion, which reached Numbers 11 and 27, respectively, in the album charts of 1966.

'Wreck of the Antoinette'

Throughout the mid-1960s, the lads toured Europe, proving extremely popular everywhere they went, particularly their old stomping grounds in Germany. Indeed, a 1967 poll in German music magazine Bravo voted Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich the most popular band in the country, ahead of the Beatles, Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys. They also proved to be successful further afield, including Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore. The one market that seemed to elude them, as it has with many British bands before and since, was the USA. There, they had only some brief early success with their sixth single, 'Bend It', even if they did have to record a less 'raunchy' version for the sensitive US market. The song was also censored by some radio stations in the UK, which no doubt helped to propel it to Number Two.

By the end of 1968, the band's popularity was beginning to wane, despite the best efforts of Blaikley and Howard to keep abreast of changing tastes in pop music. 'Last Night In Soho' proved to be the band's last Top Ten hit. A year later, the band's last single - 'Tonight Today' - failed to reach the charts.

In 1970, Dave Dee left the band for a brief stab at a solo career, leaving the remaining members to carry on as Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich. Sadly, neither venture was particularly successful. Dave Dee eventually moved into record production, while Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich stayed together until 1972 before finally calling it a day.

'Staying With It'

In the early 1980s, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich reformed briefly, releasing a solitary single - 'Staying With It' - in 1983. The 1990s, however, saw something of a revival of 1960s music, helped along by the Beatles' Anthology collections. At the time, Dave Dee was performing with the band Marmalade, but decided to get in touch with his old bandmates. The result was a reformed Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich that performed well into the 21st Century, although the personnel changed slightly over the years. At the time of Dave Dee's death in January, 2009, only he, Dozy and Tich remained with the band, the roles of 'Beaky' and 'Mick'² being taken over by guitarist Anthony Carpenter and drummer John Hatchman. In 2006, the band toured UK and German venues, appearing with other 1960s and 1970s outfits such as Slade, Boney M, Gerry and the Pacemakers and The Tremeloes. In March, 2008, on the 40th anniversary of 'Legend of Xanadu', Salisbury Civic Society awarded the boys a blue plaque to mark the band's 'outstanding contribution to popular music'.