Dave Edmunds
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Dave Edmunds (born April 15, 1944) came out of Cardiff, Wales in the late 1960s, fronting a band called Love Sculpture who were playing blues and rocked up classical pieces. "Sabre Dance" was typical of this, a top ten hit after much airplay from DJ John Peel.
After the band split, Edmunds had a huge number one single with "I Hear You Knocking", a cover of a blues classic from Smiley Lewis. After learning his trade as a producer, culminating in a couple of Phil Spector type singles, "Baby I Love You" and "Born To Be With You", he became enamoured of the concurrent pub rock movement of the early 1970s, producing Brinsley Schwarz, Ducks Deluxe, and also The Flamin' Groovies, using a stripped down, grittier sound.
His own solo LP from that era, Subtle As A Flying Mallet, was similar in style. The Brinsley Schwarz connection brought about a collaboration with Nick Lowe, operating under the name Rockpile, with Billy Bremner and Terry Williams. For contractual reasons they could not record as Rockpile until 1980, and so released albums as solo LP's backed by their band. Dave Edmunds had more hits during this time, including "Girls Talk", "I Knew The Bride", and "Queen Of Hearts".
Bizarrely, after their first LP as Rockpile, Seconds Of Pleasure, the band split. Edmunds spent the 1980s releasing more music to an ever selective audience, collaborating with and producing an assortment of artists, from Paul McCartney to King Kurt, via The Stray Cats. He even soundtracked the third Porky's movie (Porky's Revenge).
He now lives in L.A. in semi-retirement, releasing the occasional album and touring infrequently, mainly due to ill health. The list of artists he has worked with is immense, from legends to footnotes in rock history. Many of his fans consider him very underrated as a performer, guitarist, and producer.de:Dave Edmunds