Alan
Dean, born in East Ham, London on August 1, 1924, had been a boy soprano who,
at voice-breaking time, took up the accordion, on which instrument he got his
first professional employment. His hero was star accordionist Tito Burns, whom
he used to hear play at the Embassy Club where, in 1942, bandleader Harry Roy
overheard Alan running over a song with Tito in the dressing room. Roy was
impressed and engaged Alan to broadcast with his band in the "Band of the
Week" series.
Many
broadcasts and recordings later Alan formed the Song Pedlars vocal group. He
later updated the vocal group concept by forming the Keynotes, which rose to
fame in the "Take It From Here" radio series. The group made so many
recordings, mainly as back-up singers, that it would be impractical, and of
little value, to list them here.
He
toured Europe with Oscar Rabin's band, also recorded a duet with Beryl Davis; played Monte
Carlo with Ambrose's orchestra, then went into the vocal-group business.
Alan
was the nominal leader of the All Star Sextet which made it's debut at the
Downbeat Club on March 14th, 1948. The declared intention of the Sextet was to
play only bebop and it was probably the first UK bebop-orientated group to play
the clubs, they certainly played enough to qualify as a regular group.
The All Star Sextet - 1948 Back row: Aubrey Frank, Alan Dean, Reg Arnold and Norman Burns. Front row: Ralph Sharon, Tommy Pollard and Jack Fallon.
Dean was voted the country's most popular male singer in the Melody Maker 1949-50 popularity poll and retained that position until 1952. In February 1950 he decided to leave The Keynotes in favour of a solo career and he was immediately offered a recording contract by Harry Sarton of Decca.
Dean was voted the country's most popular male singer in the Melody Maker 1949-50 popularity poll and retained that position until 1952. In February 1950 he decided to leave The Keynotes in favour of a solo career and he was immediately offered a recording contract by Harry Sarton of Decca.
By
mid-1951 Alan realised that he had achieved all he could possibly achieve in
Britain. He was topping the bill everywhere and earning top money. He had kept
in touch with pianist George Shearing, a colleague from his days with Frank
Weir's band, and whose career had taken a great leap forward in America.
Shearing advised Alan to "come on over". Then Barry Ulanov, the
eminent music critic and editor of Metronome magazine, met Alan in London,
heard him sing and gave him the same advice.
Here's "All The Things You Are" by Alan Dean taken from above 1956 Panama LP - Music To Bawl By
Encouraged
by his support, but remaining cautious, Alan decided to 'test the water' on a
short holiday in New York, but so quick and positive was the reaction there that
he was unable to return to London until 1957, and then only for a few cabaret
engagements and Val Parnell's "Startime" on TV. In 1953, almost two
years after emigrating to America, he still managed to be voted into fifth
place in the Melody Maker poll.
By
the 1980s Alan was resident in Australia
and now lives in Sydney, where his
company, Deanote Productions Pty. Ltd. composes and records music for radio
jingles and TV commercials and organises entertainment for the annual
conferences of such major companies as IBM. He still sings well and as a
leisure activity he enjoys making guest appearances with local jazz bands.
(Info
mainly Kenneth Pitt, 1992. LP cover and mp3 c/o Joseph Bremson of Exciting Sounds blog)
HMV
was the first to swoop Alan Dean up and in 1960 he released his first
Australian recorded single with a cover of Toni Fisher's 'The Big Hurt' backed
with the traditional 'Autumn Affair'.
The single started to sell minimally but not
enough to make the charts. In April he moved to Sydney with his friend Norman
Burns who was the A&R man at Pye records.
Signed
to Pye by late that year, he was unable to record anything as he immediately
returned to New York to his sick uncle, Orchestra leader Lon Norman.
Before
returning to Australia in 1961 he released a single for his uncle's label,
Panama Records titled 'Don't Do It/The Come Back' (which will be up soon and is
great!) which due to his connections with the Australian Pye label resulted in
a one off Panama/Pye release in Australia (Pye PP-020).
This
is from 1961 and is one of his worst, rarest moments on disc. It was his try at
being somewhere between Slim Dusty and Johnny Ashcroft with a silly song he
wrote himself about tuppence and ha'penny.... anyway here it is - rare and
rough!
1 comment:
For Alan Dean - Sings Music To Bawl By go here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/8xjm5b5xuix3u15/Music+To+Bawl+By.zip
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