Dave Berry

Dave Berry, 1966

Dave Berry (* 6. February 1941 as David Holgate Grundy in Sheffield ) is an English singer and was a teen idol of the 1960s years.

history

In early 1962, Dave Grundy put together a four-piece backing band called The Cruisers and took the stage name Berry out of admiration for his idol Chuck Berry . His first hit was a version of Berry's Memphis, Tennessee in 1963.

From 1964 Dave Berry then only appeared solo. He mostly dressed in black leather pants and leather jackets and wore black leather gloves. His biggest hit The Crying Game was written by the related Geoff Stephens ( The New Vaudeville Band ). The back of this single Don't Give Me No Lip Child was later covered by the Sex Pistols , who even called Dave Berry their idol, while the black leather outfit was taken over by Alvin Stardust in the early 1970s .

In 1966 Dave Berry recorded Sticks & Stones , an English version of Drafi Deutscher's marble, stone and iron breaks . The song was never released as a single, but it can be heard on some best-of albums.

Jimmy Page (guitar and harmonica) also played on the first LP Dave Berry , as on many British projects between 1964 and 1967.

Until the end of 1966 Dave Berry was to be found again and again in the charts, then he started a new career as a night club and cabaret singer.

Members of the cruisers

• Frank White (guitar)
• Alan Taylor (guitar)
• Peter Cliffe (electric bass)
• John Riley (drums)

Discography

Albums

• 1964: Dave Berry
• 1966: The Special Sound Of Dave Berry
• 1966: One Dozen Berries
• 1968: Dave Berry '68
• 2003: Memphis… In The Meantime , entitled Cajun Moon

EPs

• 1965: Dave Berry Teenbeat 3
• 1965: Can I Get It From You

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
		UK
1963	Memphis Tennessee Dave Berry	UK19 (13 weeks) UK
1964	My baby left me	UK37 (9 weeks) UK
	Baby it's you	UK24 (6 weeks) UK
	The Crying Game	UK5 (12 weeks) UK
	One Heart Beats Two	UK41 (3 weeks) UK
1965	Little things	UK5 (12 weeks) UK
	This strange effect	UK37 (6 weeks) UK
1966	Mama The Special Sound of	UK5 (16 weeks) UK

More singles

• 1965: I'm Gonna Take You There
• 1965: If I Wait For Love
• 1966: Picture Gone
• 1967: Stranger
• 1967: Forever
• 1967: Just As Much As Ever
• 1968: Do I Figure In Your Life

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Chart sources: UK

literature

• Frank Laufenberg, Ingrid Hake: Rock and Pop Lexicon. Vol. 1: ABBA - Kay Kyser . Düsseldorf, Vienna: Econ Verlag, 1994, p. 128 f