The Dualers are an eight-piece
(or nine-piece)
ska
Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...
and
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
band from
South East London.
Initially comprising brothers
Si and Tyber Cranstoun,
and now led by Tyber following Si's departure in 2010 for a solo career, they first developed a profile when the single "Kiss on the Lips" entered the UK top 30, peaking at 21, in October 2004 despite no industry backing.
The Dualers have supported
Madness
Madness or The Madness may refer to:
Emotion and mental health
* Anger, an intense emotional response to a perceived provocation, hurt or threat
* Insanity, a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns
* ...
at their large outdoor concerts and played headline gigs at Indigo O2,
Fairfield Halls
Fairfield Halls is an arts, entertainment and conference centre in Croydon, London, England, which opened in 1962 and contains a theatre and gallery, and a large concert hall regularly used for BBC television, radio and orchestral recordings. Fa ...
in Croydon and the
Churchill Theatre
The Churchill Theatre in Bromley, southeast London was built by the London Borough of Bromley to designs by its borough architect's department. The Churchill is an example of a repertory theatre built in the style of European opera houses, wit ...
in Bromley.
History
The Dualers started out in 1999 as a busking duo of Si Christone and Tyber O'Neil (brothers Simon David Cranstoun and Jonathan Lloyd Cranstoun) who could be found on the streets of Bromley, Canterbury, Croydon, Kingston and Romford playing a mix of doo-wop, pop and ska.
By 2004, an old school friend called David Ellis reckoned that the brothers must have played to thousands of people on the streets of these towns, so much so, that they would have a big enough fanbase to release a single. Ellis set up a record label with the brothers called Galley Music and persuaded local Virgin and HMV shops stock a record by the pair called "Kiss on the Lips". 6,000 singles were pressed up by Galley Music, with enough being sold in the local area for the record to chart in the Top 40 of the Official Charts Company's Singles Chart, on a week where they could be still be seen busking outside the Liberty Music Shop in Romford.
In 2005, the duo signed to Guy Holmes'
Gut Records
Gut Records was a British independent record label, based in Maida Vale in London, England.
Formed in 1991, Gut was founded by Guy Holmes, who had been Head of Promotions at Island Records. The first single released on the label, Right Said F ...
label and scored another Top 40 hit with "Truly Madly Deeply".
In 2010 Si Cranstoun decided to embark on a solo career, with The Dualers expanding to became a nine-piece ska band.
In 2019, The Dualers scored their first OCC Album Chart hit after selling 4,229 copies of their ''Palm Trees And 80 Degrees'' album to reach No.11. In 2022, ''Voices from the Sun'' became their second hit album, with a weekly sale of 2,789 album getting them a number 26 chart debut.
Discography
Albums
*''Vintage Versions Volume I'' – Sandcamel Records
*''Vintage Versions Volume II'' – Galley Music
*''Rhymes & Rhythms'' – Galley Music
*''The Melting Pot'' – Galley Music
*''Get Festive Volume 1'' – Galley Music
*''Upbeat Sounds'' – Galley Music
*''The Very Best of Vintage Versions'' – Galley Music
*''The Cooking Pot'' – Galley Music
*''The Summer of Ska – Live at the Indigo July 22nd 2010''
*''With Respect''
*''Prince Buster Shakedown'' – Phoenix City a division of Cherry Red Records Ltd
*''Rewind''
*''Back to Paradise'' – Sunbeat Records
*''Reggae Street''
*''Live at Indigo 2nd December 2015''
*''Reggae Street 2''
*''Palm Trees and 80 Degrees'' (2019, Sunbeat Records) – No. 11 UK
*''Voices from the Sun'' (2022)
DVD
*''The Dualers'' – Documentary DVD 2006
*''The Dualers'' – Documentary Reissued DVD 2010
*''The Summer of Ska'' – Live at the Indigo2 July 22nd 2010
Singles
References
External links
Official Dualers Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dualers, The
English buskers
English ska musical groups
Musical groups from London