Jeff Dexter (born Jeffrey Dexter Bedwell, 15 August 1946) is a British disc jockey (DJ), club promoter, record producer and former dancer, who rose to prominence in the mid-1960s as the resident DJ at the influential London club

Middle Earth Middle or The Middle may refer to: * Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits. Places * Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man * Middle Bay (disambiguation) * Middle Brook (disambiguation) * Middle Creek ( ...

. He is closely associated with the Mod scene and popularising The Twist in England.

Early life

Dexter was born 15 August 1946 in Lambeth Hospital, and his upbringing was in

Newington Butts Newington Butts is a former hamlet, now an area of the London Borough of Southwark, that gives its name to a segment of the A3 road running south-west from the Elephant and Castle junction. The road continues as Kennington Park Road leading to ...

, close to

Elephant & Castle The Elephant and Castle is an area around a major road junction in London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark. The name also informally refers to much of Walworth and Newington, due to the proximity of the London Underground station ...

, moving to Camberwell Road when he was ten years old. Dexter has said that the first record he ever bought was a 78 of ''Sixteen Tons'' by

Tennessee Ernie Ford Ernest Jennings Ford (February 13, 1919 – October 17, 1991), known professionally as Tennessee Ernie Ford, was an American singer and television host who enjoyed success in the country and western, pop, and gospel musical genres. Noted for ...

in 1955 or 56, which he had to visit friends to play as his family didn't have a

gramophone A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

.Jeff Dexter
Interview by Bill Brewster, London, 18 February 1999. Djhistory.com, 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014. Dexter has been interested in clothing and style from a young age, influenced by his mother and brother, and as a boy joined the

Sea Scouts Sea Scouts are a part of the Scout movement, with a particular emphasis on boating and other water-based activities on the sea, rivers or lakes (canoeing, rafting, scuba, sailboarding). Sea Scouts can provide a chance to sail, cruise on boats, ...

and the

Boys' Brigade The Boys' Brigade (BB) is an international interdenominational Christian youth organisation, conceived by the Scottish businessman Sir William Alexander Smith to combine drill and fun activities with Christian values. Following its inception ...

so that he could wear the uniform.''Blokes Of Britain: Jeff Dexter''
paul gorman, 16 March 2011. Retrieved 11 July 2014. He did dressmaking and tailoring which made him popular with girls which he enjoyed. Often he was the only boy at some of the places where he mixed.

The Lyceum

When he was fourteen, some of the girls that Dexter knew asked him to go to the Lyceum, but Dexter later recalled: "I was 4’ 8 1/2” at the time, and probably looked about 11. How could I avegot to the Lyceum? I had all the clothes; I had every piece of equipment to look like I was a grown up, but I had this tiny little face and tiny little frame." Finally, he managed to become a member in August 1961, aged 14, by saying that he was 16. It was there that he first met the DJ

Ian Samwell Ian Ralph Samwell (19 January 1937 – 13 March 2003) was an English musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the writer of Cliff Richard's debut single " Move It", and his association with the rock band America, wit ...

, and they soon became firm friends. In 1959, Dexter became friends with a 12-year-old Mark Feld, who later became known as

Marc Bolan Marc Bolan ( ; born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977) was an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a pioneer of the glam rock movement in the early 1970s with his band T. Rex. Bolan was posthumously inducted into ...

and they used to visit the Lyceum together. Both had trouble gaining admission due to being small for their age, which they made up for with plenty of "front" and nice clothes. Neither could afford to buy expensive suits, so they would visit the children's department of high street shops like Woolworths and C&A and adapt the clothes themselves with help from friends.

The Twist

In September 1961 Dexter was banned from The Lyceum for dancing the Twist, which had just arrived in England. According to Dexter, the management thought the dance obscene. Two weeks later he managed to get back in by promising not to do the dance, but two weeks later, ironically, the Twist was then demonstrated by the

Arthur Murray Arthur Murray (born Moses Teichman, April 4, 1895 – March 3, 1991) was an American ballroom dancer and businessman, whose name is most often associated with the dance studio chain that bears his name. Early life and start in dance Arthur Mur ...

School of Dancing at The Lyceum. Dexter's dancing was filmed and included in the Pathé newsreels shown in cinemas. As a result, he was hired by the Lyceum as a dancer aged fifteen, even though under sixteens were officially blocked from admission to the club. He dropped his tailoring and music studies to take the job and later said: "The thought of being paid to dance with women was just phenomenal!" Dexter has commented on the number of French-run clubs in London in the early 1960s, such as La Discothèque and La Poubelle, which may have been London's first discothèque. He recalls that the French became obsessed with The Twist and the dance even became known as the French Twist. In early 1962, Dexter made a record, written by Ian Samwell, called "Let Me Teach You How To Dance" and "Twistin’ Like The French Kids Do!"

DJing

Dexter was the resident DJ at the

club in Covent Garden, along with

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

. This was a bigger club than the UFO in Tottenham Court Road where Dexter was also the resident DJ. Dexter also DJ'd at the 1971 Glastonbury Fair, a precursor to the current

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contempo ...

Career in the music industry

In 1970, he became the manager of

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 ...

, the American folk rock band formed in London earlier that year, consisting of

Gerry Beckley Gerald Linford Beckley (born September 12, 1952), better known as Gerry Beckley, is an American singer, songwriter, and musician, and a founding member of the band America. Early life Beckley was born to an American father and an English mothe ...

Dewey Bunnell Lee Merton "Dewey" Bunnell (born 19 January 1952) is a British-American musician, singer, guitarist, and songwriter, best known as a member of the folk rock band America. Biography Bunnell was born in Harrogate, Yorkshire, England, to an Americ ...

, and

Dan Peek Daniel Milton Peek () was an American musician best known as a member of the folk rock band America from 1970 to 1977, together with Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell. He has been called a "pioneer in contemporary Christian music". Early life Pe ...

. He also co-produced their first album, ''

'' and got them their first gig. They went on to have number one hits in 1972 including "

A Horse with No Name "A Horse with No Name" is a song by the folk rock band America, written by Dewey Bunnell. It was the band's first and most successful single, released in late 1971 in Europe and early 1972 in the United States, that topped the charts in Canada, ...

References

External links

*
Paul Gorman - Blokes of Britain:Jeff Dexter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dexter, Jeff 1946 births British DJs Living people People from Elephant and Castle