Freddie and the Dreamers were an English
beat band that had a number of hit records between 1963 and 1965. The band's stage act was enlivened by the comic antics of
Freddie Garrity, who would bounce around the stage with arms and legs flying.
History
The band, formed in March 1962 in
West Didsbury
Didsbury is a suburban area of Manchester, England, on the north bank of the River Mersey, south of Manchester city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 26,788.
Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, there are ...
,
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
, consisted of vocalist
Freddie Garrity (1936–2006), guitarist Roy Crewdson (born 1941), guitarist/harmonica player Derek Quinn (1942–2020), bassist Peter Birrell, and drummer Bernie Dwyer (1940–2002).
Although the band was grouped as part of the
Merseybeat
Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a British popular music genre that developed, particularly in and around Liverpool, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The genre melded influences from American rock and roll, rhythm and blues, skiffl ...
sound phenomenon centered around
Liverpool
Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...
, they came from Manchester.
Prior to becoming a singer, Garrity had worked as a
milkman in Manchester and bassist Birrell was a shoe salesman.
They had four Top 10 UK hits: a cover of
James Ray's hit "
If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody", which reached number 3 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 ...
in mid-1963, "