Simon James "Spike" Dawbarn (born 5 August 1974) is an English singer and dancer. He is a member of the

boy band A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform Love song, love songs marketed towards girls and young ...

911 911 or 9/11 may refer to: Dates * AD 911 * 911 BC * September 11 ** 9/11, the September 11 attacks of 2001 ** 11 de Septiembre, Chilean coup d'état in 1973 that outed the democratically elected Salvador Allende * November 9 Numbers * 911 ...

, who were originally active between 1995 and 2000 and had ten consecutive top 10 hits before splitting up in 2000. In 2012, 911 reformed for the

ITV2 ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, a ...

documentary series ''

The Big Reunion ''The Big Reunion'' is a British reality-documentary series that began airing on ITV2 on 31 January 2013. The show featured chart-topping bands who were big in the UK pop music scene between the 1990s and early 2000s, and the programme followed ...

'', along with other bands from their time including

Five 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Literature * ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram * ''5'' (comics), an awa ...

B*Witched B*Witched are an Irish girl group consisting of twin sisters Edele and Keavy Lynch, Lindsay Armaou and Sinéad O'Carroll. Originally active between 1997 and 2002, they enjoyed success in both Europe and North America between 1998 and 2002, r ...

and

Atomic Kitten Atomic Kitten is an English girl group formed in Liverpool in 1998, whose current members are Liz McClarnon, Jenny Frost and Natasha Hamilton. The group was founded by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) members Andy McCluskey and Stuart K ...

Biography

Early life

Spike Dawbarn was born in

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

to parents Mo and Mike Dawbarn. He also has two brothers. Although he attended some dance college afterwards, his secondary education at

Beamont Collegiate Academy Beamont Collegiate Academy (formerly William Beamont Community High School) is a mixed secondary school in the Orford area of Warrington, Cheshire, England. The school is named after William Beamont, a Victorian philanthropist and the first ...

ended at the age of sixteen when he could not get a grant to go to a London stage school. He had a brief spell as a

bricklayer A bricklayer, which is related to but different from a mason, is a craftsman and tradesman who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The terms also refer to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of masonry. ...

on a building site, a position from which he was sacked. He acquired the nickname 'Spike' because of his hairstyle.

''The Hit Man and Her'' and 911

Dawbarn went on to become a dancer on the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

late night dance show ''

The Hit Man and Her ''The Hitman and Her'' is a British television dance music programme hosted by Pete Waterman and Michaela Strachan. The programme was produced for Granada Television and ran from September 1988 until December 1992 on ITV's Night Network. The sh ...

''. In this role he worked alongside 'talents' such as

Jimmy Constable James Michael Constable (born 21 September 1971) is an English pop music, pop singer and dancer who was a member of the pop music, pop band 911 (English group), 911. Early life Constable was born in the Liverpool Maternity Hospital (now Liverpoo ...

and

Jason Orange Jason Thomas Orange (born 10 July 1970) is an English former singer and dancer, known for being a member of Take That. He departed from the group in September 2014. Early life Jason Thomas Orange was born on 10 July 1970 in Manchester, Lancashi ...

. In 1995, Dawbarn and Constable formed a partnership and teamed up with frontman

Lee Brennan Lee Anthony Brennan (born 27 September 1973) is an English singer, songwriter, dancer and actor. He is the lead vocalist of boy band 911. Biography Lee Brennan was born on 27 September 1973 in Carlisle, Cumberland, to Una and Francis Brennan. L ...

to form

. Their first hit got to number 38 on 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 ...

, with subsequent releases rising higher. Dawbarn

choreographed Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

a number of the band's dance routines.

PopSkool and after

Since 911's split in February 2000, Dawbarn has made a career joining the other band members in reunion tours. He was also director of a pop academy youth programme, PopSkool. PopSkool started in his home town of Warrington and has spread across the UK. It taught afternoon programmes in

modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which included dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th ...

and vocal training to children between the ages of eight and sixteen. Dawbarn provided choreographic expertise and voice coaching is provided by Brennan. Dawbarn had several 911 reunions for touring and TV appearances, including in 2008, 2012 and 2019. On 15 October 2009, Dawbarn appeared on ''

Never Mind the Buzzcocks ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'' is a British comedy panel game show with a pop music theme. It has aired on Sky Max since September 2021, having originally aired between November 1996 and January 2015 on BBC Two. The original series was first hoste ...

''s identity parade round, but

Phill Jupitus Phillip Christopher Jupitus (, ''né'' Swan; born 25 June 1962) is an English stand-up and improv comedian, actor, performance poet, cartoonist and podcaster. Jupitus was a team captain on all but one BBC Two-broadcast episode of music quiz ''N ...

's team failed to pick him out.

Personal life

Dawbarn has three sons, Phoenix, Teddy and Neo. His niece, Lexy Dawbarn performed on stage with

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

and was on

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for t ...

's ''

Little Big Shots ''Little Big Shots'' (also known as ''LBS'') is an American variety television series co-created and produced by Steve Harvey and Ellen DeGeneres. The series features children demonstrating talents and engaging in conversation with the host. ...

''. He is a fan of

Manchester United 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 ...

Filmography

References

External links

PopSkool
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dawbarn, Spike 1974 births 911 (English group) members English male dancers English pop singers Living people Musicians from Warrington