Denis "Den" Hegarty (born 13 September 1954,
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
, Ireland) is a
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm a ...
,
doo-wop and
a cappella singer, television presenter, and psychology lecturer.
Biography
Darts (1976–1978)
At an early age Hegarty moved to
Brighton, England. Hegarty formed the 1950s styled band,
Darts
Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small sharp-pointed missiles known as darts at a round target known as a dartboard.
Points can be scored by hitting specific marked areas of the bo ...
in August 1976, along with vocalists Rita Ray, Griff Fender and
sax player Horatio Hornblower, all of whom he had played with in the band Rocky Sharpe & the Razors (pre-
Rocky Sharpe and the Replays
Rocky Sharpe and the Replays is an English doo-wop/rock and roll revival group who first found fame in the late 1970s. The usual line-up of the group was Rocky Sharpe (born Robert Podsiadły, 26 November 1952 – 5 December 2019), Helen Highwat ...
).
[Hardy, Phil & Laing, Dave (1998) ''Encyclopedia of Rock'', Schirmer, ] His role in Darts was as the
bass singer, songwriter, arranger and music director.
Described as "wild eyed", "wild haired and manic"
and as a "kinetic and charismatic performer",
Hegarty gave the group a distinctive, anarchic edge. As the former BBC radio executive
Lesley Douglas
Lesley Douglas (born 7 June 1963) is a British former radio executive. She was the Controller of BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music from early 2004 until her resignation in October 2008 over The Russell Brand Show prank calls row.
Early life
Lesley Doug ...
later recalled of a 1970s gig: "I remember sitting in the front row terrified of the Darts singer Den Hegarty, because all the papers had said that he was the mad man of music and that he would dive into the crowd". Music journalist
Will Hodgkinson
Will Hodgkinson is a journalist and author from London (born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne), England. He is the chief rock and pop critic for ''The Times'' newspaper and contributes to ''Mojo'' magazine. He has written for ''The Guardian'', ''The Indepen ...
recounted another incident, during a Spanish eurovision TV show in 1979, where "the grandiosity of the whole affair proved too much for the bug-eyed Hegarty, who felt compelled to jump into a fountain and roll around in it, mid-performance", before taking off his socks and wringing them down the neck of actress
Sylvia Kristel
Sylvia Maria Kristel (28 September 1952 17 October 2012) was a Dutch actress and model who appeared in over 50 films. She is best remembered as the eponymous character in five of the seven Emmanuelle films, including originating the role with ''E ...
.
Dave Haslam
Dave Haslam is a British writer, broadcaster and DJ who DJ'ed over 450 times at the Haçienda nightclub in Manchester and has since DJ'ed worldwide. He has written for the ''New Musical Express'', ''The Guardian'', the ''London Review of Book ...
recalled how Hegarty "had a thing for clambering on the speaker stacks at the side of the stage (by far the highlight of the set)".
After Darts (1978–)
Hegarty left Darts in 1978.
He signed to
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it i ...
and released a solo single "Voodoo Voodoo" in March 1979 which was his only solo hit, reaching number 73 in the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
.
[Den Hegarty]
, Chart Stats. Retrieved 3 July 2010 The following year, he made a guest appearance on
The Clash
The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the w ...
's album ''
Sandinista!
''Sandinista!'' is the fourth studio album by the English punk rock band the Clash. It was released on 12 December 1980 as a triple album containing 36 tracks, with 6 songs on each side. It crosses various genres including funk, reggae, jazz, g ...
''.
[Gilbert, Pat (2005) ''Passion Is a Fashion: The Real Story of the Clash'', Da Capo, , p. 279]
Hegarty moved into broadcasting, hosting the
Tyne Tees Television
ITV Tyne Tees, previously known as Tyne Tees, Channel 3 North East and Tyne Tees Television, is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire.
Tyne Tees launched on 15 January 1959 from studios at a converte ...
show ''
Alright Now''.
[Clarkson, Wensley (1996) ''Sting: The Secret Life of Gordon Sumner'', Blake, , p. 85] After working for
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
(presenting ''Talkabout''),
[From the Music Capitals of the World: London]
, '' Billboard'', 21 April 1979, p. 64 and featuring in three series of
Jack Good's final television show, ''Let's Rock'', he moved on to host the final series of ''
Tiswas
''Tiswas'' (; an acronym of "Today Is Saturday: Watch And Smile") was a British children's television series that originally aired on Saturday mornings from 5 January 1974 to 3 April 1982, and was produced for the ITV network by ATV.
It was ...
'' along with DJ
Gordon Astley
Gordon Astley (born 1 December 1948, Lytham St. Annes, Lancashire) is a British radio presenter. He is best known for his role a presenter on BBC Southern Counties Radio, which he left in February 2009 after almost 15 years.
He was also present ...
, comedian/
impressionist Fogwell Flax, and
Sally James.
[Pied Pipers]
", Tiswas Online. Retrieved 3 July 2010[Tiswas – the TV show]
, BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. Retrieved 3 July 2010 Hegarty's contributions included "inexplicably sitting in a bathtub full of baked beans or providing loud 'BONG's in his booming bass tones for a section aping the 10 o'clock news called News At Den".
After the demise of Tiswas, Hegarty became a cable show quizmaster, and then took another direction providing voices for animated characters in television advertisements.
Hegarty lives with his wife and one son in
. He now works as a lecturer in psychology
, but he is still singing.
He has fronted an a cappella band called Slackapella, plus a 15-piece outfit called Soul Traders,
pers, The Metrotones. Hegarty helped revive Darts in 2006
and still performs at occasional gigs with the reformed band.