Jim Dale
  • Real Name: James Smith
  • Birth Date: 15th August, 1935
  • Birth Place: Rothwell, Northants

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    Doubtless, Jim Dale is now much better known as an actor- particularly for his long association with the long running 'Carry On' series of movies- than he ever was as a singer. His entry into show business was inspired by a desire to be a comedian and his entry into the UK singles chart came about more by accident than design, for his ability to fall over without sustaining injury far outweighed his vocal skills.

    This talented performer had ambitions to make people laugh from his childhood and eventually secured a place by way of being a 'Carroll Levis Discovery" as a warm up act for the seminal rock and roll TV show "Six Five Special". It was through this that he allowed his act to extend to singing 'rock and roll' to further entertain his audience. One of the numbers he first performed was "Piccadilly Line", a song that he'd written himself- a spoof of Donegan's popular "Rock Island Line". Finding that his renditions were popular Jim found himself slipping into this new role and soon established himself as one of Britain's rock and roll pioneers. His recordings were welcomed by an eager audience and his second release became a major chart hit.
    The EP illustrated here contains tracks from his early singles- most of which found the chart. However this EP is now very hard to find, and is probably one of very few records sought by fans of the "Carry On" series of comic movies.
    		 GEP8656
    Although Jim had some success during the 1960s as a songwriter- he wrote the lyrics for "Georgy Girl" (The Seekers), among others- his own popularity had faded by the end of the 1950s and he began to focus his efforts in other show business directions. Besides the "Carry On"s, Jim will be familiar to many as the irrepressable Barnum in the New York production of 1981. Despite the passing of the years Jim Dale has managed to become something of a Peter Pan character, and has aged all but slowly, still managing to fall over skilfully at the time of writing.

    1950s & 1960s 45rpm UK Discography

    • Upper List includes UK 45 singles only
    • See Lower List for EP releases
    • Collector's Items are shown In Red

    Parlophone R4329 1957 Piccadilly Line/I Dodn't Mean It  
    Parlophone R4343 1957 Be My Girl/You Shouldn't Do That #2
    Parlophone R4356 1957 All Shook Up/Wandering Eyes  
    Parlophone R4376 1957 Just Born (To Be Your Baby)/Crazy Dream #24
    Parlophone R4402 1958 Sugartime/Don't Let Go #25
    Parlophone R4424 1958 Tread Softly Stranger/Jane Belinda  
    Parlophone R4522 1959 Gotta Find A Girl/The Legend Of Nellie  
    Piccadilly 7N35039 1962 One Boy, One Girl/My Resistance Is Low  
    Piccadilly 7N35100 1963 Start All Over Again/It's For Them  
    Pye 7N17839 1969 Twinky/Plenty More Days  

     Note: R4356 was recorded in conjunction with the King Brothers and the Vipers skiffle group.

    1950s & 1960s UK EP Discography

    • See upper list for UK singles releases.
    • Collector's Items are shown In Red

    Parlophone GEP8656 1960 "Jim Dale"  
    Be My Girl/Piccadilly Line/Crazy Dream/Just Born (To Be Your Baby)

    Return to UK Artists Biography Index