What happened to... Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich

4 November 2025, 11:52

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich scored a load of massive singles in the 1960s - but what happened next?

They might not be mentioned in the hushed tones of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones or the Kinks, but Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich were serious hitmakers in the second half of the 1960s.

Their wacky clothes, zany name and freakout music earned them plenty of attention during their first few years, but perhaps contributed to their lack of US success and their songs not being at the top of many peoples' lists of 1960s classics in the years since.

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That means the time is right for a reminder of how brilliant Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich were, as well as a closer look at their career and what each of the band did in the years after that first flush of fame.

A world away from either Swinging London or the Motown-infused docks of Liverpool, in the late 1950s a bunch of lads in local bands in Salisbury (a wee place in Wiltshire) slowly came together.

Trevor Davies was in The Beatnicks. Ian Amey was in Eddy and the Strollers. David Harman in the Coasters and Big Boppers. John Dymond was also in the Big Boppers.

All ended up in Ronnie Blonde and the Beatnicks, but when Ronnie didn't show up one night, Harman took over. By the end of 1961, Michael Wilson had joined on drums. Harman was now Dave Dee, and the band were now known as Dave Dee & the Bostons.

By this point, all had given up their jobs. None had careers that were too much to mention, apart from one amazing story involving Dave being first on the scene at a tragic and fatal car crash.

As a cadet, he was there when Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent's car slammed into a lamppost. Cochran died, aged just 21. Vincent, who already walked with a limp after a serious crash five years earlier, was also badly injured.

The story goes that the cops retrieved a piece of rock 'n' roll history from the car, Cochran's big, beautiful Gretsch 6120 guitar. It was sent on to his family in the US. "But not before I'd had a good strum on it!" Dave admits.

Back to the band, the group gigged extensively, including shows at The Storyville Cologne and Top Ten Club in Hanover and Top Ten Club in Hamburg. But while some other groups forged in the crucible of German clubs were now mainstream stars, that wasn't happening yet for Dave Dee & the Bostons.

No Time

That all changed when songwriters Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley hooked up with them and arranged some sessions with genius/madman Joe Meek, sometimes known as the British Phil Spector (though he would likely have called Phil Spector the American Joe Meek).

The sessions were a disaster, but Howard and Blaikley stuck around, and got the band signed to Fontana Records. There they were reborn.

"We changed their name to Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich, because they were their actual nicknames and because we wanted to stress their very distinct personalities in a climate which regarded bands as collectives," Howard said.

It did the trick, and after a couple of flops ('No Time' and 'All I Want'), the band started racking up hit after hit after hit in the UK. Despite some regional love, they didn't break the US, but scored some success in Australia, New Zealand and Continental Europe.

The Legend Of Xanadu

Their singles included: 'The Legend of Xanadu', 'Last Night in Soho', 'Bend It!', 'Hold Tight!', 'You Make It Move', 'Hideaway', 'Save Me', 'Zabadak!', 'Okay!', 'Touch Me, Touch Me','The Wreck of the 'Antoinette', 'Don Juan' and 'Snake in the Grass'.

Things fractured by the end of the decade. After fourth album Together, Dave Dee was the first to jump ship, leaving to attempt a solo career in September 1969.

Rebranded as D,B,M and T, the band continued for a few more years and one more album, Fresh Ear in 1970.

The group formally split in 1973 and there was an incredibly short-lived reunion with Dave Dee the following year for the one-off single 'She's My Lady' in 1974, but it didn't last.

Spinoff band Tracker eventually became a reformed Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich in 1976, but it was here when the whole naming side of things got a little squiggly, with Tracker member Pete Lucas becoming the new Mick.

DAVE DEE,DOZY,BEAKY,MICK & TICH / SHE'S MY LADY 1974

Over the next thirty years or so, the band's lineup ebbed and flowed with various comings and goings, with the occasional instrument swap or name adoption. To recap the originals:

Beaky (John Dymond) was the band's rhythm guitarist form 1964 to 1974, moving to drums in 1976 before going back to guitar in the 1980s. He left the band in 1989 but returned on guitar from 2013 and is the band's sole remaining original member. He has also sung during all the incarnations where he's been present.

The first Dozy (reminder, that's Trevor Davies), played bass from 1964 to 1974 and from 1976 till his death in 2015. He also sung from 1969 to 1973.

Mick (Michael Wilson) drummed for that first 1964-1974 before leaving the band for good. The original Tich (Ian Frederick Stephen Amey) played lead guitar and sang from 1964-73, returning to lead guitar from 1976 to 2014. He died in 2024.

Singer Dave Dee himself came and went a few times, sometimes producing the group, sometimes performing with them, while juggling his other life as a justice of the peace. After being diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2001, Dave Dee died on January 9, 2009.

Then came the alternative D, B, Ms and Ts.

Paul Cornwell was the second Dozy, and has played bass in the band since 2015. The second Beaky was Paul Bennett, who played rhythm guitar from 1989 to 1993. He was replaced by the third Beaky, Tony Carpenter, from 1993 to 2013, till Dymond's return as the original Beaky.

Pete Lucas was the second Mick, playing rhythm guitar and singing from 1976 to 1982. He died in 2023. John Hatchman is the third Mick, and has drummed and sung in the group since 1982.

Jolyon DIxon was the second Tich, playing lead guitar from 2014 to 2020. He was replaced on the same instrument as the third Tich, Chris Moores, from 2020 to the present day.

There was the occasional studio effort. In 1984, the band recorded an album of rewordings of older material, released as Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich. A digital single 'What You Are' was released under the Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich name in 2019.

The current lineup is Dozy (Paul Cornwell), Beaky (band original John Dymond), Mick (John Hatchman) and Tich (Chris Moores). They continue to tour to this day.