The Dumb Blondes were an English

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was primarily defined by the flamboyant clothing, makeup, and hairstyles of its musicians, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists d ...

band. The band went through two line-ups, both featuring singer Jeff Hepting and bassist Pete Webb. The first line-up also featured current

Def Leppard Def Leppard are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drummer), Rick Allen (drums), Phil Collen (guitar, ...

and

Man Raze Man Raze are an English three-piece alternative rock band originally from Finchley, London, England formed in 2004, featuring Phil Collen, Simon Laffy and Paul Cook. History Man Raze played a sold-out show at the Spitz club near Old Spitalf ...

guitarist

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and drummer Fred Ball. The second line-up featured guitarist Paul Mason, keyboardist Andy Tompsett, and drummer Graham Garrett.

Previous experience of members

Hepting, Collen, and Ball had previously played together in the band Tush. Collen and Webb were previously in a band called

Lucy Lucy is an English language, English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings ar ...

, which had two singles released on Lightning Records titled "Really Got Me Goin" and "Never Never".

Recordings

The Dumb Blondes had interest from

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

and were given free recording time at De Lane Lea Music Studios in Wembley by Ronnie Beck of Feldman/Trident Music who were also the publishers of

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

. They recorded six songs at this session: "The Hooker", "Necrophiliac", "Blue Smoke/Two Stroke", "Old Time Movie Star", "Spider's Web", and "Money Grabber".

Collen and Ball leave

After the band broke up, Collen joined the band

Girl A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. While the term ''girl'' has other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.com, "Girl"'' Retrieved January 2, 2008. '' daughter'' or '' girlfriend'' regardless of age ...

before joining the band

in 1983. In recent years he has also formed his own band

with ex-

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drummer Paul Cook and former bandmate from Girl

Simon Laffy Simon Laffy (born 11 October 1958) is an English novelist and bassist, a member of Man Raze and former member of Girl. Career Simon Laffy was born at home in Hoxton, London. He started playing music at fourteen years old, inspired by his musi ...

on bass. Fred Ball went on to perform in a band called XFX and is currently in a band called Slam. Pete Webb and Jeff Hepting continued the Dumb Blondes (mk II) with new members Paul Mason (guitar), Andy Tompsett (keyboards) and Graham Garrett (drums). The band became less heavy and more keyboard orientated keeping in-line with the New Romantic period. The band released a double-A side single (1980) titled "Strange Love"/"Sorrow" (

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song which was a big hit in 1966 by the Merseys) on the then Independent Fresh Records (Fresh 21) which was produced by Pete "Overend" Watts and Dale "Buffin" Griffin, formerly of Mott the Hoople. It was put on Fresh Records' compilation album ''Sorrow'' in 1981. This line-up also recorded songs titled "The Clown", "Heartbeat" and "Affaire de Coeur".

Breakup

Graham Garrett left The Dumb Blondes to record and tour Japan with Panache before forming Ya Ya with Panache bandmate and bassist Terry Stevens along with Lea Hart and Ray Callcut and then later Sam Blewitt. Jeff also joined and toured with Panache in Japan. Jeff then went on to form the outrageous glam rock party band The Sugar Plums and also toured with 1980s tribute band Spandex Belly, he currently plays with covers band ARCHIVE who are based in Waltham Forest, London After Dumb Blondes, Pete was involved with several bands including Tarazara, The Union (not the Luke Morley Union), WellHung, Preacher, Metalworks and lastly The Sabbath, a

tribute A tribute (; from Latin ''tributum'', "contribution") is wealth, often in kind, that a party gives to another as a sign of submission, allegiance or respect. Various ancient states exacted tribute from the rulers of lands which the state con ...

band to

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...

and

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and media personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead singer of the heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which per ...

Members

* Jeff Hepting - lead vocals (1977-1983) * Pete Webb - bass (1977-1983) * Phil Collen - guitar (1977-1980) * Fred Ball - drums (1977-1980) * Paul Mason - guitar (1980-1983) * Andy Tompsett - keyboards (1980-1983) * Graham Garrett - drums (1980-1982)

Discography (incomplete)

* 1978 demo * "Strange Love"/"Sorrow" (1980) * "The Clown" (1981) * "Heartbeat" (1981) * "Affaire de Coeur" (1981)

References

External links

Official Dumb Blondes website
{{Authority control English glam rock groups Fresh Records (UK) artists