The Free Design was a Delevan, New York-based vocal group, whose music can be described as

sunshine pop Sunshine pop (originally known as soft pop) is a subgenre of pop music that originated in Southern California in the mid-1960s. Rooted in easy listening and advertising jingles, sunshine pop acts combined nostalgic or anxious moods with "an appre ...

and

baroque pop Baroque pop (sometimes called baroque rock) is a fusion genre that combines rock music with particular elements of classical music. It emerged in the mid 1960s as artists pursued a majestic, orchestral sound and is identifiable for its appropria ...

. Though they did not achieve much commercial recognition during their main recording career, their work later influenced bands including

Stereolab Stereolab are an Anglo- French avant-pop band formed in London in 1990. Led by the songwriting team of Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier, the group's music combines influences from krautrock, lounge and 1960s pop music, often incorporating a repetit ...

, Cornelius,

Pizzicato Five Pizzicato Five (formerly typeset as Pizzicato V and sometimes abbreviated to P5)Yang Jeff, Dina Can, Terry Hong, (1997) ''Eastern Standard Time'' pg 277 New York: Mariner Books was a Japanese pop band formed in Tokyo in 1979 by multi-instrume ...

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi music, lo-fi style, and became ...

and

The High Llamas The High Llamas are an Anglo-Irish avant-pop band formed in London circa 1991. They were founded by singer-songwriter Sean O'Hagan, formerly of Microdisney, with drummer Rob Allum and ex-Microdisney bassist Jon Fell. O'Hagan has led the group si ...

Early life and career

The members were all members of the Dedrick family: Chris Dedrick (12 September 1947 – 6 August 2010), sister Sandy and brother Bruce were the original lineup. Chris Dedrick wrote most of the songs. Younger sister Ellen joined the group later, and youngest sister Stefanie (1952–1999) joined near the end of their initial career. Their father, Art, was a

trombonist The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

and music

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

. Their uncle

Rusty Dedrick Lyle "Rusty" Dedrick (12 July 1918 – 25 December 2009) was an American swing and bebop jazz trumpeter and composer born in Delevan, New York, probably better known for his work with Bill Borden, Dick Stabile, Red Norvo, Ray McKinley and Cl ...

was a jazz trumpeter with

Claude Thornhill Claude Thornhill (August 10, 1908 – July 1, 1965) was an American pianist, arranger, composer, and bandleader. He composed the jazz and pop standards "Snowfall" and "I Wish I Had You". Early years Thornhill was the son of J. Chester Thornhill ...

and

Red Norvo Red Norvo (born Kenneth Norville; March 31, 1908 – April 6, 1999) was an American musician, one of jazz's early vibraphonists, known as "Mr. Swing". He helped establish the xylophone, marimba, and vibraphone as jazz instruments. His reco ...

. They formed the band while living in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Chris has said the group was influenced by vocal groups like

The Hi-Los The Hi-Lo's were a vocal quartet formed in 1953, who achieved their greatest fame in the late 1950s and 1960s. The group's name is a reference to their extreme vocal and physical ranges (Bob Strasen and Bob Morse were tall, Gene Puerling and Cla ...

(who performed in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

frequently at the time) along with

Peter, Paul and Mary Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's repertoir ...

and the counterpoint experiments of

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

. Their trademark sound involved complex harmonies, jazz-like chord progressions and off-beat

time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

s, due to the classical training by Chris. The band released seven albums from 1967 to 1972, the first six on Enoch Light's Project 3 label and the last one, ''There is a Song'', on the Ambrotype label. For the most part, they were accompanied on the albums by studio musicians. Bruce Dedrick produced the 1969 single "You're Never Gonna Find Another Love", a Mickey Nicotra composition for The Sermon, which became a hit for the group. In addition to the production, the background vocals were provided by members of the Dedrick family.

Post-breakup

After the band's breakup in 1972, Chris Dedrick recorded a solo album, ''Be Free'', which went unreleased until 2000. He moved to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Canada, where he became a music producer, arranger, as well as a classical and

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

composer. He worked with directors

Guy Maddin Guy Maddin (born February 28, 1956) is a Canadian screenwriter, director, author, cinematographer, and film editor of both features and short films, as well as an installation artist, from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Since completing his first film in ...

and

Don McKellar Don McKellar (born August 17, 1963) is a Canadian actor, writer, playwright, and filmmaker. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave. He is known for directing and writing the ...

, winning a

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...

for Maddin's '' The Saddest Music in the World''. He also made music for ''

The Ray Bradbury Theater ''The Ray Bradbury Theater'' is an anthology series that ran for three seasons on First Choice Superchannel in Canada and HBO in the United States from 1985 to 1986, and then on USA Network, running for four additional seasons from 1988 to 199 ...

'' TV series. In 1997, Dedrick won a

Gemini Award The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States ...

for his work on the television series ''

Road to Avonlea ''Road to Avonlea'' is a Canadian television series first broadcast in Canada between January 7, 1990, and March 31, 1996, as part of the ''CBC Family Hour'' anthology series, and in the United States starting on March 5, 1990. It was created b ...

''. Chris was nominated a total of sixteen times for Gemini awards, winning a total of four, the others for ''

Million Dollar Babies ''Million Dollar Babies'' is a 1994 television film based on the fact based novel ''Time of Their Lives—The Dionne Tragedy'' by John Nihmey and Stuart Foxman. It was an American/Canadian co-production by CBS, Cinar (later Wildbrain), and CBC. ...

,'' ''Shipwreck on the Skeleton Coast'' and ''The Great Canadian Polar Bear Adventure''. He won a

SOCAN The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is a Canadian performance rights organization that represents the performing rights of more than 135,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. The organization collects ...

award for ''Tripping the Wire'' and a Hot Docs award, also for ''Shipwreck on the Skeleton Coast''. Chris, Sandy and Ellen became the core members of The Star-Scape Singers in 1976, a classical vocal ensemble led by Dr.

Kenneth G. Mills Kenneth George Mills (January 25, 1923 – October 8, 2004) was a Canadian metaphysical/philosophical speaker and author. An exponent of the oral tradition, he gave spontaneous lectures and poetry for over 37 years. At the same time, he became not ...

. Chris Dedrick also served as the group's main composer. The group performed and toured extensively throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

Revived interest and later years

During their career, The Free Design did not gain commercial success. They remained in obscurity after disbanding in 1972. Starting in the mid-1990s, interest in them began to grow as part of a general resurgence of popularity in

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

and

from the 1960s and 1970s. In 1994,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese musician Cornelius reissued The Free Design catalog on his Trattoria label. In 1998, the Spanish Siesta label released four compilation albums of their music.

named a 1999 single "The Free Design" (though the song itself had no direct connection to the band). In 2000 the band re-grouped, after a nearly 30-year retirement, to record the song " Endless Harmony" on the

Beach Boys A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...

tribute album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...

'' Caroline Now!: The Songs of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys''. This experience convinced them to record a new full-length album, 2001's ''Cosmic Peekaboo'', which featured the original lineup (Chris, Sandy and Bruce) in addition to Rebecca Pellett, who had previously been Chris Dedrick's musical assistant for several years. In 2001, the label Cherry Red released a ''Best of Free Design'' compilation. The Free Design song "I Found Love" was included on the 2002 ''Gilmore Girls'' soundtrack. From 2002 to 2005, the original albums were reissued in the

United States 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 territorie ...

by the

Light in the Attic ''A Light in the Attic'' is a book of poems by American poet, writer, and musician Shel Silverstein. The book consists of 135 poems accompanied by illustrations also created by Silverstein. It was first published by Harper & Row Junior Books in 1 ...

label. In 2005, the label put out ''The Now Sound Redesigned'', an album of Free Design remixes from established acts like

Super Furry Animals Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band formed in Cardiff in 1993. For the duration of their professional career, the band consisted of Gruff Rhys (lead vocals, guitar), Huw Bunford (lead guitar, vocals), Guto Pryce (bass guitar), Cian Ciaran ...

and

Peanut Butter Wolf Christopher George Manak (born October 8, 1969 ), better known by his stage name Peanut Butter Wolf, is an American disc jockey and record producer from San Jose, California. He is based in Los Angeles, where he moved to in 2000. He is the found ...

. Stefanie Dedrick died on April 5, 1999 from the effects of

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...

. Chris Dedrick died on August 6, 2010 from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

, at age 62. According to a message posted on his official site by his wife Moira, Dedrick died “after a week of increasing radiance, yet with rapid physical decline.”

In popular culture

The song "Love You" is featured during the credits of the film '' Stranger Than Fiction'' (2006), as the ending theme of season four on the

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

hit '' Weeds'', and season one (episode two) of '' ''Forever'''' (2018). It is the theme song to the podcast ''

Jordan, Jesse, Go! ''Jordan, Jesse, Go!'' (often abbreviated to ''JJGO'') is a weekly comedy audio podcast, which began airing in 2007. It is hosted by comedian Jordan Morris, a television writer, producer, and actor, and Jesse Thorn, a public radio host. The show ...

'', which began in 2007. The song is also the basis of the 2007 episode "I Love You" of the animated web series ''Julius and Friends'', by

Paul Frank Industries Paul Frank is a US-based lifestyle products company, selling apparel and accessories. The company is owned by Futurity Brands AG, a subsidiary of Futurity Brands Limited as of 2020. History Creator Born on August 29, 1967, in Downey, CA. Paul Fra ...

. "Love You" has been featured in TV commercials for

Peters Peters may refer to: People * Peters (surname) * Peters Band, a First Nations band in British Columbia, Canada Places United States * Peters, California, a census-designated place * Peters, Florida, a town * Peters Township, Kingman County, Kan ...

Drumstick ice creams in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

(2007), Freia Smil chocolate in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

(2008), mobile network operator

Cosmote COSMOTE MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS S.A. ( el, COSMOTE ΚΙΝΗΤΕΣ ΤΗΛΕΠΙΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΕΣ Α.Ε.) known as just Cosmote is the largest mobile network operator in Greece. The company is headquartered in Athens and is a fully owned subsidia ...

in Greece (2009),

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

internationally (2009–2010),

DC Shoes DC Shoes is an American company that specializes in footwear for action sports, including skateboarding and snowboarding. The company also manufactures apparel, bags, accessories, hats, tshirts, and posters. History The company was founded in ...

(2010),

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the List of airlines by foundation date, world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atla ...

(2015), and

Zillow Zillow Group, Inc., or simply Zillow, is an American tech real-estate marketplace company that was founded in 2006, and was created by Rich Barton and Lloyd Frink, former Microsoft executives and founders of Microsoft spin-off Expedia; Spencer R ...

(2022) in the

. The song "I Found Love" can be found on '' Our Little Corner of the World: Music from Gilmore Girls''. The song " Kites are Fun" was used as the theme music to the Irish comedy TV show ''

Your Bad Self ''Your Bad Self'' is an Irish sketch comedy show which was originally broadcast on RTÉ Two on 26 December 2008 at 21:40 before being developed into a series which was shown in 2010. History ''Your Bad Self'' stars Domhnall Gleeson as well as M ...

'' in 2010. "Kites are Fun" reached minor traction on

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

in April and May 2020, and its sound was even used by singer-rapper

Doja Cat Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini (born October 21, 1995), known professionally as Doja Cat ( ), is an American rapper and singer. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, she began making and releasing music on SoundCloud as a teenager. Her song ...

. It was also the highest charting and only charting song by The Free Design, achieving a peak of number 114 on ''Billboard'''s

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

in 1968. The song "I Found Love" plays during the end credits of the 2021 film ''

Werewolves Within ''Werewolves Within'' is a multiplayer Social deduction game, social-deduction Virtual reality, VR game for Oculus Rift, Microsoft Windows, Windows, and PlayStation VR, developed by Red Storm Entertainment, published by Ubisoft, and released on 6 ...

''.

Cover versions

In 1997, the band Tomorrow's World

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

their song " Kites Are Fun". The Free Design song "Bubbles" was covered by Dressy Bessy on the 2000 ''

The Powerpuff Girls ''The Powerpuff Girls'' is an American superhero animated television series created by animator Craig McCracken and produced by Hanna-Barbera (later Cartoon Network Studios) for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Televi ...

'' soundtrack, and performed live by LA power-pop band

Wondermints The Wondermints are an American rock band from Los Angeles that released four studio albums between 1995 and 2002. The main line-up consisted of Darian Sahanaja (keyboards); Nick Walusko (also known as Nicky Wonder; guitar), and Mike D'Amico (per ...

in the late 1990s. Chicago's The Flat Five often covered "Kites Are Fun" in their live set in the 2010s. Cover versions of their songs "Kites Are Fun", "I Found Love" and "2002 - A Hit Song" all appeared on the children's show ''

Yo Gabba Gabba! ''Yo Gabba Gabba!'' is a children's musical television series created by Christian Jacobs and Scott Schultz. The series is about five costumed toys come-to-life and their friend DJ Lance Rock ( Lance Robertson). It is co-produced by Magic Stor ...

'' "Kites Are Fun" was also covered by The Parallelograms, and appeared on the 2007 episode "Happy". "I Found Love" was covered by Trembling Blue Stars, and was featured on the 2008 episode "Love". "2002 - A Hit Song" was adapted for the 2009 episode "Band", and performed by the cast of the show.

Discography

Selected singles

* " Kites Are Fun" ( US/ US Bub. No. 114)

Albums

* '' Kites Are Fun'' (1967) * '' You Could Be Born Again'' (1968) * ''

Heaven/Earth ''Heaven/Earth'' is the third album from The Free Design, released in 1969. Produced by Enoch Light for his Project 3 label. Track listing All songs were written by Chris Dedrick except where otherwise noted. # "My Very Own Angel" # "Now Is T ...

'' (1969) * '' Stars/Time/Bubbles/Love'' (1970) * '' ...Sing for Very Important People'' (1970) * ''One By One'' (1971) * '' There is a Song'' (1972) * ''

Cosmic Peekaboo ''Cosmic Peekaboo'' is the eighth album by The Free Design. Released in 2001, it was the sunshine pop Sunshine pop (originally known as soft pop) is a subgenre of pop music that originated in Southern California in the mid-1960s. Rooted in eas ...

'' (2001) * ''The Now Sound Redesigned'' (2005)

References

External links

Official Free Design Site

Chris Dedrick official site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Free Design, The American pop music groups Family musical groups Musical groups established in 1967 Musical groups from New York (state) Sunshine pop