Darts (band)
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Darts are a nine-piece British
doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...
revival
band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...
that achieved chart success in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
-based band had a number of UK top 20 hits including three successive number twos with revivals of early US
rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...
, R&B and original songs.


History

Founded in 1976, by
Den Hegarty Denis "Den" Hegarty (born 13 September 1954, Dublin, Ireland) is a rock and roll, doo-wop and a cappella singer, television presenter, and psychology lecturer. Biography Darts (1976–1978) At an early age Hegarty moved to Brighton, Eng ...
along with Griff Fender (real name: Ian Collier), Rita Ray (real name: Lydia Sowa) and
Horatio Hornblower Horatio Hornblower is a fictional officer in the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, the protagonist of a series of novels and stories by C. S. Forester. He later became the subject of films, radio and television programmes, an ...
(real name: Nigel Trubridge), all former members of the band Rocky Sharpe and 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 ...
). Joining the band was Iain "Thump" Thomson,
George Currie George Currie may refer to: * George Currie (Northern Irish politician) (1905–1978), Northern Irish barrister and politician * George Currie (musician) (born 1950), Scottish musician and amateur archaeologist * George Currie (academic) (1896–19 ...
and John Dummer, all ex-members of the John Dummer's Blues Band. The line-up was completed by William "Hammy" Howell and ex-
Mickey Jupp Michael Graham "Mickey" Jupp (born 6 March 1944, in Worthing, Sussex, England) is an English musician and songwriter, mainly associated with the Southend music scene. Career Jupp played in several Southend bands after leaving art college in 196 ...
singer Bob Fish. They built up a large following playing clubs and universities, although their break came after they appeared on
Charlie Gillett Charles Thomas Gillett (; 20 February 1942 – 17 March 2010) was a British radio presenter, musicologist, and writer, mainly on rock and roll and other forms of popular music. He was particularly noted for his influential book ''The Sound of t ...
's show on
BBC Radio London BBC Radio London is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving Greater London and its surrounding areas. The station broadcasts across the area and beyond, on the 94.9 FM broadcasting, FM frequency, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, ...
in October 1976. This secured the band a recording contract with
Magnet Records Magnet Records was a British record label, started in 1973 by Michael Levy and Peter Shelley. It was acquired by Warner Bros. Records in 1988 for an estimated £10m. Artists on the label included Alvin Stardust, Stevenson's Rocket, Matchbox, ...
, where they were teamed up with record producer
Tommy Boyce Sidney Thomas "Tommy" Boyce (September 29, 1939 – November 23, 1994) and Bobby Hart (born Robert Luke Harshman; February 18, 1939) were a prolific American duo of singer-songwriters. In addition to three top-40 hits as artists, the duo is ...
who had previously produced
The Monkees The Monkees were an American rock and pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose lineup consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was conc ...
. Covering 1950s
rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...
hits, they scored their first UK hit in November 1977 with a medley of " Daddy Cool" (originally the b side of the single 'Silhouettes', a US 1955 hit for The Rays) and
Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the " ...
's 1957 hit "
The Girl Can't Help It ''The Girl Can't Help It'' is a 1956 American musical comedy film starring Jayne Mansfield in the titular role, Tom Ewell, Edmond O'Brien, Henry Jones, and Julie London. The picture was produced and directed by Frank Tashlin, with a screenplay ...
". More cover versions followed in 1978 with "
Come Back My Love "Come Back My Love" is a song by American doo-wop group The Wrens, released in 1955 by Rama Records. The song is best known for the version by the British doo-wop revival band Darts in 1978, which peaked at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart. T ...
" (originally recorded by US R&B group
The Wrens The Wrens were an American indie rock band from New Jersey. The group consisted of Charles Bissell (guitar/vocals), brothers Greg Whelan (guitar/vocals) and Kevin Whelan (bass/vocals), and Jerry MacDonald (drums). They released three albums; a fo ...
in 1955), and " The Boy from New York City" (originally a US hit for
The Ad Libs ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
in 1965). Their next
single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...
of 1978 was an original song "It's Raining" written by band member Griff Fender (real name Ian Collier). "Come Back My Love", "The Boy from New York City" and "It's Raining" all reached number 2 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 ...
. Following "It's Raining" in September 1978, Hegarty left the band to tend to his terminally ill father, and he was replaced by the American singer, Kenny Andrews. Their final hit of 1978 was "Don't Let It Fade Away" (written by Currie). "Get It" (written by Trubridge), followed in early 1979 and they also covered
Gene Chandler Gene Chandler (born Eugene Drake Dixon; July 6, 1937) is an American singer, songwriter, music producer, and record-label executive. Chandler is nicknamed "the Duke of Earl" or, simply, "the Duke." He is best known for his most successful son ...
's US 1962 hit "
Duke of Earl "Duke of Earl" is a 1962 US number-one song, originally recorded by Gene Chandler. It is the best known of Chandler's songs, and he subsequently dubbed himself "The Duke of Earl". The song was penned by Chandler, Bernice Williams, and Earl Edwar ...
", produced by former
Wizzard Wizzard were an English rock band formed by Roy Wood, former member of the Move and co-founder of the Electric Light Orchestra. ''The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits'' states, "Wizzard was Roy Wood just as much as Wings was Paul McCartne ...
frontman The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...
Roy Wood Roy Wood (born 8 November 1946) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the Move, Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard. As a songwriter, he contributed a n ...
. This was their last UK top 10 hit, their only other sizeable hit coming in 1980 with a cover of The Four Seasons "
Let's Hang On! "Let's Hang On!" is a song composed by Bob Crewe, Sandy Linzer, and Denny Randell that was popularized by The Four Seasons in 1965. The single reached the No. 3 position in the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart, the group's highest placemen ...
". During the year, the line-up changed with Currie, Fish and Dummer leaving the band. Duncan Kerr (guitar) and Keith Gotheridge (drums), both formerly with Plummet Airlines joined, and ex-
Mud A MUD (; originally multi-user dungeon, with later variants multi-user dimension and multi-user domain) is a Multiplayer video game, multiplayer Time-keeping systems in games#Real-time, real-time virtual world, usually Text-based game, text-bas ...
guitarist Rob Davis briefly joined the band, before moving into songwriting and production work. Another later member was Mike Deacon (ex-
Suzi Quatro Susan Kay Quatro (born June 3, 1950) is an American singer, bass guitarist, songwriter, and actress. In the 1970s, she scored a string of hit singles that found greater success in Europe and Australia than in her homeland, reaching No. 1 in th ...
band) on keyboards. By the end of 1980, their hits had dried up and in 1983 they began to do theatre work appearing and being musical directors of the theatre production of ''Yakety Yak''. In 1979, Hegarty became a television presenter, first with the
Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...
-based '' Alright Now'', and later as part of the team fronting the children's programme, ''
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 c ...
''. In 1985, Fender and Ray managed and produced the UK ''
a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...
'' female group The Mint Juleps who scored two minor UK chart entries with "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" (originally by
Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...
) in 1986 and "Every Kinda People" (originally by Robert Palmer) in 1987. The band remains in the Top 500 selling list according to the ''
Guinness Book of British Hit Singles ''British Hit Singles & Albums'' (originally known as ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles'' and ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums'') was a music reference book originally published in the United Kingdom by the publishing arm of t ...
''. The band reformed in 2006 for occasional appearances.


Band line-up


Discography


References


External links


Official Facebook group
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Darts English new wave musical groups Doo-wop groups Musical groups established in 1976 Musical groups disestablished in 1985 Musical groups from Brighton and Hove 1976 establishments in England 1985 disestablishments in England Magnet Records artists