Graham Dee (born Graham Davidson, 2 March 1943) is an English musician.

Early life

Graham Dee was born in

Whitechapel Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed a c ...

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

, England. Dee has lived his life with a neuromuscular disorder that results in a series of ticks, twitches, and spasms which has created a weakness in his neck. He attended boarding school in Hertfordshire, where he started playing guitar after hearing

Lonnie Donegan Anthony James Donegan (29 April 1931 – 3 November 2002), known as Lonnie Donegan, was a British skiffle singer, songwriter and musician, referred to as the " King of Skiffle", who influenced 1960s British pop and rock musicians. Born in Sco ...

's "

Rock Island Line "Rock Island Line" is an American folk song. Ostensibly about the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, it appeared as a folk song as early as 1929. The first recorded performance of "Rock Island Line" was by inmates of the Arkansas Cummins ...

". He then went on to a college for the disabled where he qualified in gardening but kept up his guitar playing, forming an ad hoc group and playing for

scrumpy Scrumpy is a type of cider originating in the West of England, particularly the West Country. Traditionally, the dialect term "scrumpy" was used to refer to what was otherwise called "rough", a harsh cider made from unselected apples.Leeds, W. ' ...

in the cider pubs of

Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley District of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxon period, Lea ...

Career

While working as a gardener, Dee started playing bass semi-pro with a band called

The Planets ''The Planets'', Op. 32, is a seven- movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1917. In the last movement the orchestra is joined by a wordless female chorus. Each movement of the suite is named ...

and then returned to the guitar and got a gig backing crooner Steve Arlen. Eventually, he joined the Laurie Jay Combo who backed the likes of Gary US Bonds,

Memphis Slim John Len Chatman (September 3, 1915 – February 24, 1988), known professionally as Memphis Slim, was an American blues pianist, singer, and composer. He led a series of bands that, reflecting the popular appeal of jump blues, included saxoph ...

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often ...

and

Kenny Lynch Kenneth Lynch, OBE (18 March 1938 – 18 December 2019) was an English singer, songwriter, entertainer, and actor. He appeared in many variety shows in the 1960s. At the time, he was among the few black singers in British pop music. He was appo ...

and his band appeared in

Michael Winner Robert Michael Winner (30 October 1935 – 21 January 2013) was a British filmmaker, writer, and media personality. He is known for directing numerous action, thriller, and black comedy films in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, including several co ...

's 1964 '' The System'', which starred

Oliver Reed Robert Oliver Reed (13 February 1938 – 2 May 1999) was an English actor known for his well-to-do, macho image and "hellraiser" lifestyle. After making his first significant screen appearances in Hammer Horror films in the early 1960s, his ...

. Dee formed a group called The Quotations and ended up on tour with

The Animals The Animals (also billed as Eric Burdon and the Animals) are an English rock band, formed in Newcastle upon Tyne in the early 1960s. The band moved to London upon finding fame in 1964. The Animals were known for their gritty, bluesy sound an ...

and Tommy Tucker. He later played in a band called Bobcats, who were the house band at the

Scotch of St James The Scotch of St. James is a nightclub situated at Mason's Yard, London. Tucked away at the bottom of an alley it served as a prominent nightclub, live music venue and historically significant meeting place for London's rock elite in the 1960 ...

club. Dee was a

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

in the 1960s, working alongside the likes of future

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are c ...

members

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the Rock music, rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various ...

and

John Paul Jones John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-American naval captain who was the United States' first well-known naval commander in the American Revolutionary War. He made many friends among U.S political elites ( ...

. In 1968, Dee wrote the single "Phoebe's Flower Shoppe" for The Cortinas. He started gaining a reputation as a songwriter, producer and musician. Dee has co-writing credits on John Bromley's "Weatherman" and novelty songs like "My Daddie is a Baddie". By the late 1960s, owing to his connections as well as his musical ability, he had gained the nickname, 'Mr Tin Pan Alley' by his contemporaries. Dee also supported

on the bluesman's first British shows, produced

Les Fleur de Lys The Fleur de Lys (initially Les Fleur de Lys ) were a British band originally formed in late 1964, in Southampton, Hampshire, England. They recorded singles beginning in 1965 in the transitional Beat to psychedelic music genre, later known as ...

(whose line-up included Bournemouth rock alumni

Gordon Haskell Gordon Haskell (27 April 1946 – 15 October 2020) was an English musician and songwriter. A pop, rock, jazz, country and blues vocalist, guitarist, and bassist, he was a school friend of King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp. The two first worke ...

and Tony Head), backed

Elkie Brooks Elkie Brooks (born Elaine Bookbinder; 25 February 1946) is an English rock, blues and jazz singer. She was a vocalist with the bands Dada and Vinegar Joe, and later became a solo artist. She gained her biggest success in the late 1970s and 19 ...

The Walker Brothers The Walker Brothers were an American pop group of the 1960s and 1970s which included Noel Scott Engel (eventually known professionally as Scott Walker), John Walker (born John Joseph Maus, but using the name Walker since his teens) and Gary L ...

and

Carl Perkins Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998) Pareles. was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll, he began his recording career at the Sun Studio, in Memphis, beginning in 19 ...

, was twice hired by

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards. As a teenager in ...

to join

Them Them or THEM, a third-person plural accusative personal pronoun, may refer to: Books * ''Them'' (novel), 3rd volume (1969) in American Joyce Carol Oates' ''Wonderland Quartet'' * '' Them: Adventures with Extremists'', 2003 non-fiction by Wels ...

, and filled in for

Syd Barrett Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett (6 January 1946 – 7 July 2006) was an English singer, songwriter, and musician who co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd in 1965. Barrett was their original frontman and primary songwriter, becoming known for his ...

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics an ...

. During the 1970s, Dee was diagnosed with

Tourette's syndrome Tourette syndrome or Tourette's syndrome (abbreviated as TS or Tourette's) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood or adolescence. It is characterized by multiple movement (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) ...

. In the early 1970s, he went to

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territor ...

with his Japanese wife, where he visited

Muscle Shoals Sound Studio Muscle Shoals Sound Studio is an American recording studio in Sheffield, Alabama, formed in 1969 by four session musicians known as The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. They had left nearby FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals to create their own reco ...

in Memphis. He also lived in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

and Los Angeles. Whilst gigging at The Alibi in 1997, Dee was approached by BBC Look East to perform for Children in Need on TV. He had previously composed a Christmas song with Sara Blumenstein in New York called "I Remember Christmas" and decided to record the song for the children's charity. He joined forces with the Norwich Cathedral Choristers and

The Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestant church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. The organisation reports a worldwide membership of over 1.7million, comprising soldiers, officers and adherents col ...

and released a single with all profits going to Children in Need. In 2000 Dee released a 3-track CD titled ''The Bottom Line'' on the Sugabeat/Elkin Music label. In 2004, Big Beat Records released ''You Gotta Believe It's... Sharon Tandy''. The tracks "Daughter Of The Sun", "The Way She Looks At You", "He'll Hurt Me", "Somebody Speaks Your Name", and "Two Can Make It Together" were co-written by Dee and lyricist Brian Potter. The album also included "Love Is Not A Simple Affair", co-written by Dee and John Bromley. Some of Dee's writing and production work has been reissued by cult record label Acid Jazz. ''The Graham Dee Connection: The 60s Collection'' was released in 2011. The EP ''Graham Dee’s Hitsville London'' followed in 2012. Dee has recently been working on an album of new material, recorded at various locations, including London, Dorset,

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershir ...

and

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...

. In 2014, Graham announced on his Facebook page that his latest album, ''The Thirteenth Man'', would be released by Tin-Kan Records. He currently lives in the Dorset village,

Bere Regis Bere Regis () is a village and civil parish in Dorset, England, situated north-west of Wareham. In the 2011 census the civil parish had a population of 1,745. The village has one shop, a family-owned cheese barn, a post office, and two pubs ...

, where he often plays gigs in the local pub.

References

External links

Discography

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dee, Graham 1943 births English pop guitarists English session musicians English male songwriters English record producers Living people Musicians from London Acid Jazz Records artists