Dave Edmunds

Biography

David William Edmunds (born 15 April 1944) is a Welsh retired singer, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. He is mainly associated with pub rock and new wave, having produced hits in these genres during the 1970s and early 1980s.
Edmunds first played in a band with his older brother Geoff when he was 10. This led to a succession of bands with other musicians. In 1968, he was a member of Love Sculpture, which had a Top 5 hit with Sabre Dance. Edmunds embarked on a solo career after Love Sculpture. His 1970 Christmas single "I Hear You Knocking×I Hear You Knocking1970 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAI Hear You KnockingBBlack Bill" was certified gold and sold more than three million copies.
In 1976, Edmunds formed the group Rockpile with Nick Lowe, Billy Bremner and Terry Williams. Due to contractual arrangements, the group did not record as Rockpile until 1980. Between 1976 and 1980, Edmunds enjoyed success with Nick Lowe's "I Knew the Bride", Elvis Costello's "Girls Talk×Girls Talk1979 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAGirls Talk3:29BBad Is Bad3:11", Hank DeVito's "Queen of Hearts×Queen of Hearts26 October 1979 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAQueen of Hearts3:22BThe Creature From the Black Lagoon3:45", Graham Parker's "Crawling from the Wreckage×Crawling From the WreckageNovember 1979 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksACrawling From the WreckageBAs Lovers Do", and Melvin Endsley's "Singing the Blues×Singing the Blues1980 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksASinging the BluesBBoys Talk". After Rockpile released their first LP under their own name, Seconds of Pleasure (1980), the band split. Edmunds spent the 1980s collaborating with and producing an assortment of artists, including Paul McCartney, King Kurt, Stray Cats, Fabulous Thunderbirds, and Status Quo. His 1983 release, Information produced a US Top 40 hit with "Slipping Away". It was followed in 1984 by the album Riff Raff×Riff RaffSeptember 1984 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1Something About You2:58A2Breakin' Out3:24A3Busted Loose4:28A4Far Away4:07A5Rules of the Game4:05B1Steel Claw4:14B2S.O.S.3:11B3Hang On3:13B4How Could I Be So Wrong3:17B5Can't Get Enough3:05.
Edmunds recorded less frequently after the mid-1980s. In 2013, he released a compilation album "...Again" followed, in 2015, with an instrumental album On Guitar... Dave Edmunds: Rags & Classics. After playing a final show in July 2017, he was reported to have retired from the music business.

Early life

Edmunds was born 15 April 1944 in Cardiff, Wales. As a ten-year-old, he first played in 1954 with a band called the Edmunds Bros Duo with his older brother Geoff (born 5 December 1939, Cardiff); this was a piano duo. Then the brothers were in the Stompers, later called the Heartbeats, formed around 1957 with Geoff Edmunds and Allan Goldsworty on rhythm guitars, Dave on lead guitar, Denny Driscoll on lead vocals, Johnny Stark on drums, and Tom Edwards on bass. Then Dave and Geoff were in the 99ers along with scientist and writer Brian J. Ford. After that Dave Edmunds was in Crick Feathers' Hill-Bills formed in about 1960, with Edmunds ("Feathers") on lead guitar, Zee Dolan on bass, Tennessee Tony on lead vocals, Tony Kees on piano and Hank Two Sticks on drums. The first group that Edmunds fronted was the Cardiff-based 1950s style rockabilly trio the Raiders formed in 1961, along with Brian 'Rockhouse' Davies on bass (born 15 January 1943, Cardiff) and Ken Collier on drums. Edmunds was the only constant member of the group, which later included bassist Mick Still, Bob 'Congo' Jones on drums (b. 13 August 1946, Barry, South Wales) and John Williams (stage name John David) on bass. The Raiders worked almost exclusively in the South Wales area.
In 1966, after a short spell in a Parlophone recording band called the Image (1965–1966) with local drummer Tommy Riley, Edmunds shifted to a more blues-rock sound, reuniting with Congo Jones and bassist John Williams and adding second guitarist Mickey Gee to form the short-lived Human Beans, a band that played mostly in London and on the UK university circuit. In 1967, the band recorded a cover of "Morning Dew" on the British Columbia label that failed to have any chart impact. After just eighteen months, the core of Human Beans formed a new band called Love Sculpture that again reinstated Edmunds, Jones and Williams as a trio. Love Sculpture released their debut single "River to Another Day" in 1968. Their second single was a quasi-novelty Top 5, a reworking of Khachaturian's classical piece "Sabre Dance" as a speed-crazed rock number, inspired by Keith Emerson's classical rearrangements. "Sabre Dance" became a hit after garnering the enthusiastic attention of British DJ John Peel, who was so impressed that he played it twice in one programme on "Top Gear". The band issued two albums.

Solo career

After Love Sculpture split, Edmunds had a UK Christmas Number 1 single in 1970 with "I Hear You Knocking×I Hear You Knocking1970 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAI Hear You KnockingBBlack Bill", a Smiley Lewis cover, which he came across while producing Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets' first album titled A Legend. The recording was the first release on Edmunds' manager's MAM Records label. This single also reached No. 4 in the US, making it Edmunds' biggest hit by far on either side of the Atlantic Ocean. It sold more than three million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. Edmunds had intended to record Wilbert Harrison's "Let's Work Together", but when he was beaten to that song by Canned Heat, he adapted the arrangement he intended to use for it to "I Hear You Knocking". The success of the single caused EMI's Regal Zonophone Records to use an option that it had to claim Edmunds' album, 1972's Rockpile×RockpileJune 1972 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1Down, Down, Down2:51A2I Hear You Knocking2:49A3Hell of a Pain2:59A4It Ain’t Easy3:23A5The Promised Land2:27B1Dance, Dance, Dance3:01B2(I Am a) Lover Not a Fighter3:34B3Egg or the Hen4:20B4Sweet Little Rock and Roller2:39B5Outlaw Blues5:13, and the momentum from the single's success on a different label went away.
Edmunds' only acting role followed, as a band member in the David Essex movie Stardust. After learning the trade of producer, culminating in a couple of singles in the style of Phil Spector, "Baby I Love You" (No. 8 in the chart) and "Born to Be with You" (No. 5 in the chart), he became linked with the pub rock movement of the early 1970s, producing (among others) Brinsley Schwarz, Ducks Deluxe, Flamin' Groovies, and blues rock band Foghat, using a stripped down, grittier sound.
Edmunds had bought a house in Rockfield, Monmouth, a few miles away from Charles and Kingsley Ward's Rockfield Studios, where he became an almost permanent fixture for the next twenty years. His working regimen involved arriving at the studio in the early evening and working until well after dawn, usually locked in the building alone. Applying the layered Spector Wall of Sound to his own productions, it was not unusual for Edmunds to multilayer up to forty separately recorded guitar tracks into the mix.

Rockpile and other collaborations

His own solo LP from 1975, Subtle as a Flying Mallet×Subtle as a Flying Mallet1975 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracksA1Baby I Love YouA2Leave My Woman AloneA3MaybeA4Da Doo Ron RonA5Let It Be MeA6No Money DownB1Shot of Rhythm and BluesB2Billy the KidB3Born to Be With YouB4She’s My BabyB5I Ain’t NeverB6Let It Rock, was similar in style. The Brinsley Schwarz connection brought about a collaboration with Nick Lowe starting with this album, and in 1976 they formed the group Rockpile×RockpileJune 1972 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1Down, Down, Down2:51A2I Hear You Knocking2:49A3Hell of a Pain2:59A4It Ain’t Easy3:23A5The Promised Land2:27B1Dance, Dance, Dance3:01B2(I Am a) Lover Not a Fighter3:34B3Egg or the Hen4:20B4Sweet Little Rock and Roller2:39B5Outlaw Blues5:13, with Billy Bremner and Terry Williams. Because Edmunds and Lowe signed to different record labels that year, they could not record as Rockpile until 1980, but many of their solo LPs (such as Lowe's Labour of Lust and Edmunds' own Repeat When Necessary) were group recordings. Edmunds had more UK hits during this time, including Nick Lowe's "I Knew the Bride", Elvis Costello's "Girls Talk×Girls Talk1979 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAGirls Talk3:29BBad Is Bad3:11", Hank DeVito's "Queen of Hearts×Queen of Hearts26 October 1979 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAQueen of Hearts3:22BThe Creature From the Black Lagoon3:45" (later a larger, international hit for American country-rock singer Juice Newton), Graham Parker's "Crawling from the Wreckage×Crawling From the WreckageNovember 1979 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksACrawling From the WreckageBAs Lovers Do", and Melvin Endsley's "Singing the Blues×Singing the Blues1980 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksASinging the BluesBBoys Talk" (originally a 1956 US Country No. 1 hit for Marty Robbins, then a US pop No. 1 cover for Guy Mitchell, and a UK No. 1 for both Mitchell and Tommy Steele).
The album Repeat When Necessary×Repeat When Necessary8 June 1979 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracksA1Girls Talk3:25A2Crawling From the Wreckage2:53A3The Creature From the Black Lagoon3:42A4Sweet Little Lisa3:38A5Dynamite2:33B1Queen of Hearts3:17B2Home in My Hand3:20B3Goodbye Mr. Good Guy2:40B4Take Me for a Little While2:39B5We Were Both Wrong2:42B6Bad Is Bad3:11 received a Silver Certification from the British Phonographic Industry on 20 March 1980 (for over 60,000 copies sold in the UK). The single "Girls Talk" also received a Silver Certificate from the BPI. Edmunds, with Rockpile, performed in a music video for "Girls Talk", directed by Martin Pitts and produced by Derek Burbidge and Helen Pollack. For the video, the band set up on the roof of the Warner Brothers Records building in Midtown Manhattan in the early afternoon. Unexpectedly, after Rockpile released their first LP under their own name, Seconds of Pleasure (1980), the band split. Edmunds spent the 1980s collaborating with and producing an assortment of artists, including Paul McCartney, King Kurt, Stray Cats, Fabulous Thunderbirds, and Status Quo.
On his 1983 release, Information, Edmunds collaborated on two songs with Jeff Lynne, the leader of Electric Light Orchestra. One of these songs, a Lynne composition, "Slipping Away", became Edmunds' only other US Top 40 hit, spending a single week at No. 39 while having a video clip in heavy rotation on MTV. It was not a hit in the UK. In 1984, Lynne produced six tracks on Edmunds' following album, Riff Raff×Riff RaffSeptember 1984 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1Something About You2:58A2Breakin' Out3:24A3Busted Loose4:28A4Far Away4:07A5Rules of the Game4:05B1Steel Claw4:14B2S.O.S.3:11B3Hang On3:13B4How Could I Be So Wrong3:17B5Can't Get Enough3:05. He also recorded the soundtrack for the movie Porky's Revenge!, supplying the main theme, "High School Nights."
In late 1985, Dave Edmunds was the musical director and a participating band member of Carl Perkins's Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session television special recorded live at Limehouse Studios in London. Other musicians involved in the project included George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton and Rosanne Cash. In 1989, Edmunds produced the album Yo Frankie for Dion.

1990 onwards

Edmunds recorded less frequently after the mid-1980s, living in Wales in semi-retirement but occasionally touring. He joined up with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band for tours in 1992 and 2000. However, 2007 marked a return to touring for Edmunds alongside Joe Brown on a lengthy UK tour. He made an appearance on stage alongside Stray Cats at the Brixton Academy in London on 10 September 2008, playing "The Race Is On" and "Tear It Up" with the band.
In 1993 Edmunds was in Cardiff Crown Court as a co-defendant along with Shakin' Stevens facing charges of non-payment of playing royalties from former Sunsets' band members Robert Llewellyn, Carl Petersen, Steve Percy, and Paul Dolan. The prosecution asserted that the former band members were due a share of additional royalties that Stevens and Edmunds had received from the successful reissue of the album A Legend during the early 1980s. The judge agreed. While the unpaid royalties only amounted to around £70,000 to be divided among the four musicians, the associated court costs to be paid by Stevens and Edmunds amounted to £500,000.
On New Year's Eve 2008, he appeared on Jools' Annual Hootenanny, performing "Girls Talk×Girls Talk1979 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAGirls Talk3:29BBad Is Bad3:11" and "I Hear You Knocking×I Hear You Knocking1970 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAI Hear You KnockingBBlack Bill". He was Holland's guest again at Borde Hill Garden on 20 June 2009, on 28 August at an open-air concert at Carrickfergus Castle, on 31 October at Ipswich Regent, on 7 November at Stoke Victoria Hall and on 14 November at Nottingham Concert Hall. Edmunds also played a five-song set, including "I Hear You Knocking," "I Knew the Bride" and "Sabre Dance" with the Holland Big Band at the Royal Albert Hall on 27 November 2009.
He returned and performed "Sabre Dance" on Jools' Annual Hootenanny on the 2009/10 edition. An album release on 19 November 2013 called ...Again, featured recordings from the 1990s plus four new tracks. This was Edmunds' first release in almost 20 years, with the title track released as a digital download single. In 2015, Edmunds released his first instrumental album On Guitar... Dave Edmunds: Rags & Classics, which featured instrumental covers of classic songs, such as The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" and Elton John's "Your Song". The album was Edmunds' final album, and after playing a final show in July 2017, he was reported to have retired from the music business.

Personal life

In July 2025, Edmunds experienced a major cardiac arrest before being revived with CPR according to his wife Cici Edmunds. He has since recovered.

Studio albums

with Love Sculpture:

Blues Helping (December 1968)
Forms and Feelings (January 1970)
with Rockpile:

Seconds of Pleasure (October 1980)
as Dave Edmunds:

Live albums

I Hear You Rockin' (January 1987) (US No. 106)
Live on the King Biscuit Flower Hour (May 1999)
A Pile of Rock: Live Featuring Billy Bremner, Geraint Watkins & the Refreshments (Sweden, 1999) (Pool CD018)
C'Mon Everybody Live (Same source as King Biscuit Flower Hour – May 1999, but different tracks) (January 2004)
Alive & Pickin' (Canadian mail order only) (February 2005)

Compilations

with Love Sculpture:

The Classic Tracks 1968/1972 – EMI UK – 1974
The Dave Edmunds & Love Sculpture Singles A's & B's – Harvest Heritage – EMI UK – 1980
as Dave Edmunds: