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David William Edmunds (born 15 April 1944) is a Welsh retired singer, songwriter, guitarist and record producer.
In 1966, after a short spell in a Parlophone recording band, the Image (1965–1966), with local drummer Tommy Riley, Edmunds shifted to a more blues-rock sound, reuniting with Congo Jones and bassist John Williams and adding second guitarist Mickey Gee to form the short-lived Human Beans, a band that played mostly in London and on the UK university circuit. In 1967, the band recorded a cover version of "Morning Dew" on the British Columbia label that failed to have any record chart impact. After just eighteen months, the core of Human Beans formed a new band called Love Sculpture that again reinstated Edmunds, Jones and Williams as a trio. Love Sculpture released their debut single "River to Another Day" in 1968. Their second single was a quasi-novelty Top 5, a reworking of Khachaturian's classical piece "Sabre Dance" as a speed-crazed rock number, inspired by Keith Emerson's classical rearrangements.Rick Clark, liner notes from The Dave Edmunds Anthology (1968–90), Rhino Records R2 71191 (1993) "Sabre Dance" became a hit after garnering the enthusiastic attention of British DJ John Peel, who was so impressed he played it twice in one programme on "Top Gear". The band issued two albums.
Edmunds' only acting role followed, as a band member in the David Essex movie Stardust.Edmunds also appeared in the Paul McCartney film, Give My Regards to Broad Street, but just as part of McCartney's backing band. After learning the trade of producer, culminating in a couple of singles in the style of Phil Spector, "Baby I Love You" (No. 8 in the chart) and "Born to Be with You" (No. 5 in the chart), he became linked with the pub rock movement of the early 1970s, producing (among others) Brinsley Schwarz, Ducks Deluxe, Flamin' Groovies, and blues rock band Foghat, using a stripped down, grittier sound.
Edmunds had bought a house in Rockfield, Monmouth, a few miles away from Charles and Kingsley Ward's Rockfield Studios, where he became an almost permanent fixture for the next twenty years. His working regime involved arriving at the studio in the early evening and working through till well after dawn, usually locked in the building alone. Applying the layered Spector Wall of Sound to his own productions, it was not unusual for Edmunds to multilayer up to forty separately recorded guitar tracks into the mix.
The album Repeat When Necessary received a Silver Certification from the British Phonographic Industry on 20 March 1980 (for over 60,000 copies sold in the UK). The single "Girls Talk" also received a Silver Certificate from the BPI. Edmunds, with Rockpile, performed in a music video for "Girls Talk", directed by Martin Pitts and produced by Derek Burbidge and Helen Pollack. For the video, the band set up on the roof of the Warner Brothers Records building in Midtown Manhattan in the early afternoon. Unexpectedly, after Rockpile released their first LP under their own name, Seconds of Pleasure (1980), the band split. Edmunds spent the 1980s collaborating with and producing an assortment of artists, including Paul McCartney, King Kurt, Stray Cats, Fabulous Thunderbirds, and Status Quo.
On his 1983 release, Information, Edmunds collaborated on two songs with Jeff Lynne, the leader of Electric Light Orchestra. One of these songs, a Lynne composition, "Slipping Away", became Edmunds' only other US Top 40 hit, spending a single week at No. 39 while having a video clip in heavy rotation on MTV. It was not a hit in the UK. In 1984, Lynne produced six tracks on Edmunds' following album, Riff Raff. He also recorded the soundtrack for the movie Porky's Revenge!, supplying the main theme, "High School Nights."
In late 1985, Dave Edmunds was the musical director and a participating band member of Carl Perkins's television special recorded live at Limehouse Studios in London. Other musicians involved in the project included George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton and Rosanne Cash. In 1989, Edmunds produced the album Yo Frankie for Dion DiMucci.
In 1993 Edmunds was in Cardiff Crown Court as a co-defendant along with Shakin' Stevens facing charges of non-payment of playing royalties from former Sunsets' band members Robert Llewellyn, Carl Petersen, Steve Percy and Paul Dolan. The prosecution asserted that the former band members were due a share of those additional royalties that Stevens and Edmunds had received from the successful reissue of the album A Legend during the early 'eighties. The judge agreed and, while the unpaid royalties only amounted to around £70,000 to be divided among the four musicians, the associated court costs to be paid by Stevens and Edmunds amounted to £500,000.Heatley, Michael (2005). Shaky. Michael O'Mara Books (London).
On New Year's Eve 2008, he appeared on Jools' Annual Hootenanny, performing "Girls Talk" and "I Hear You Knocking". He was Holland's guest again at Borde Hill Garden on 20 June 2009, on 28 August at an open-air concert at Carrickfergus Castle, on 31 October at Ipswich Regent, on 7 November at Stoke Victoria Hall and on 14 November at Nottingham Concert Hall. Edmunds also played a five-song set, including "I Hear You Knocking," "I Knew the Bride" and "Sabre Dance" with the Holland Big Band at the Royal Albert Hall on 27 November 2009.
He returned and performed "Sabre Dance" on Jools' Annual Hootenanny on the 2009/10 edition. An album release on 19 November 2013 called ...Again, featured recordings from the 1990s, plus four new tracks, Edmunds' first for almost 20 years, with the title track released as a digital download single. In 2015, Edmunds released his first instrumental album On Guitar... Dave Edmunds: Rags & Classics, which featured instrumental covers of classic songs, such as The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" and Elton John's "Your Song". The album was Edmunds' final album and after playing a final show in July 2017, he was reported to have retired from the music business.
with Rockpile:
as Dave Edmunds:
| 1972 | Rockpile | — | — | — | — | |
| 1975 | Subtle as a Flying Mallet | — | — | — | — | |
| 1977 | Get It | — | — | 42 | — | |
| 1978 | Tracks on Wax 4 | — | — | 17 | — | |
| 1979 | Repeat When Necessary | 39 | 54 | 17 | 45 | |
| 1981 | Twangin... | 37 | 48 | 5 | — | |
| 1982 | D.E. 7th | 60 | 46 | 13 | — | |
| 1983 | Information | 92 | 51 | 20 | — | |
| 1984 | Riff Raff | — | 140 | 26 | — | |
| 1989 | Closer to the Flame | — | 146 | 36 | — | |
| 1994 | Plugged In | — | — | — | — | |
| 1999 | Hand Picked: Musical Fantasies | — | — | — | — | |
| 2013 | ...Again | — | — | — | — | |
| 2015 | On Guitar...Rags & Classics | — | — | — | — | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | ||||||
as Dave Edmunds:
| 1982 | The Best of Dave Edmunds | — | 163 | |||
| 1993 | The Dave Edmunds Anthology (1968–1990) | — | — | |||
| 2004 | From Small Things: The Best of Dave Edmunds | — | — | |||
| 2008 | The Many Sides of Dave Edmunds: The Greatest Hits and More | 38 | — | |||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | ||||||
| 1968 | "Sabre Dance" (with Love Sculpture) | 5 | — | — | — | x | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1970 | "I Hear You Knocking" | 1 | 4 | 3 | 4 | x | 1 | 4 | 4 | — | 3 |
|
| 1971 | "I'm Comin' Home" | 52 | — | 36 | 75 | x | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "Blue Monday" | — | — | — | 104 | x | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1972 | "The Promised Land" | — | 5 | — | — | x | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1973 | "Baby I Love You" | 8 | 48 | — | — | x | 6 | — | — | — | — | |
| "Born to Be With You" | 5 | 96 | — | — | x | 11 | 2 | 7 | — | — | ||
| 1976 | "Here Comes the Weekend" | — | — | — | — | x | — | 28 | — | — | — | |
| "Where or When" | — | — | — | — | x | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1977 | "JuJu Man" | — | — | — | — | x | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "I Knew the Bride" | 26 | 32 | — | — | x | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Get Out of Denver" (US only) | — | — | — | — | x | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1978 | "Deborah" | — | — | — | — | x | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "Television" | — | — | — | — | x | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1979 | "A1 on the Jukebox" | — | — | — | — | x | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "Girls Talk" | 4 | 9 | 18 | 65 | x | 11 | 24 | — | — | 23 | ||
| "Queen of Hearts" | 11 | 59 | — | — | x | 12 | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Crawling from the Wreckage" | 59 | — | — | — | x | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1980 | "Teacher, Teacher" (by Rockpile) | — | 83 | 31 | 51 | x | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "Singing the Blues" | 28 | 67 | — | — | x | 19 | — | — | 7 | — | ||
| 1981 | "Almost Saturday Night" | 58 | — | — | 54 | 18 | — | — | — | 15 | — | |
| "The Race Is On" (with Stray Cats) | 34 | — | — | — | — | 17 | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1982 | "From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)" | — | — | — | — | 28 | — | — | — | 15 | — | |
| "Me and the Boys" | — | — | — | — | 47 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Run Rudolph Run" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1983 | "Slipping Away" | 60 | — | — | 39 | 7 | — | 47 | — | — | — | |
| "Information" | — | — | — | 106 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1984 | "Something About You" | — | — | — | — | 16 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1985 | "High School Nights" | — | — | — | 91 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1987 | "The Wanderer" (live) | — | — | — | — | 35 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1990 | "Closer to the Flame" | — | — | 86 | — | 38 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "King of Love" | 68 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. "x" denotes that the chart did not exist at the time. | ||||||||||||
| 1979 | "Girls Talk" | Martin Pitts | Repeat When Necessary |
| "Crawling from the Wreckage" | Mike Mansfield | ||
| 1981 | "Almost Saturday Night" | Twangin... | |
| "The Race Is On" | Brian Grant | ||
| 1982 | "From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)" | D.E. 7th | |
| "Me and the Boys" | Paul Justman | ||
| "Dear Dad" | |||
| 1983 | "Slipping Away" | Peter Sinclair | Information |
| 1984 | "Information" | Paul Justman | |
| "Something About You" | Dieter Trattmann | Riff Raff | |
| 1985 | "High School Nights" | Marty Callner | Porky's Revenge! |
| 1986 | "The Wanderer" | Ralph Ziman | I Hear You Rockin' |
| "Paralyzed" | |||
| 1990 | "Closer to the Flame" | Michael Salomon | Closer to the Flame |
| "King of Love" | Mick Haggerty |
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