The Stargazers

  • Bob Brown
  • June Marlow
  • David Carey
  • Fred Dachtler
  •  

    The Stargazers were a very popular vocal group on BBC radio throughout the 1950s. They could be described as novelty choralists having a style not dissimilar to the US group 'The New Christie Minstrels' of a decade later. Although the group seem to have ceased recording in about 1960, they had by then spawned other outfits that would carry the genre into the future. They will be more familiar to those of us who remember listening to radio shows like 'Take It From Here' in the mid to late 1950s, rather than those with an eye to the record charts.

    Although the Stargazers would normally fall into that category of music called "Easy Listening", they nevertheless adapted their style a little to take advantage of the musical fashion- which at the end of 1956 was very much "Rock And Roll". Hence this EP release which is now extremely hard to find, but gives us a great picture of the group at that time.The lady pictured is apparently Eula Parker and she is accompanied here- according to the sleeve notes- by Cliff Adams, Bob Brown, Fred Dachtler and David Carey.

    The original group, with pianist Bernie Fenton, were brought together by the London born pianist/ trombonist Cliff Adams in January of 1949. They then included Marie Benson who had been born in Australia. She had already established herself as a singer in that country before coming to the UK during 1948 to broaden her career. She appeared on most of the early singles, but was later replaced by other ladies. The original lead singer was Dick James who later went on to solo success singing the theme from 'Robin Hood'- the new ITV series- much loved by younger members of the UK population. His place was filled by Bob Brown who had previously played the trumpet with Jack Jackson's Orchestra. David Carey had previously worked as a drummer for the Lew Stone Orchestra before turning to singing while with Cyril Stapleton. His place had previously been filled by Ronnie Milne. Fred Dachtler probably became their longest serving member; he had previously played saxophone and clarinet with a number of orchestras. The Stargazers too took advantage of Independent Television and even released the catchy 'Murray Mints' commercial jingle as 'Sorry, You'll Have To Wait' during 1957. Cliff Adams formed the 'Cliff Adams Singers' in 1954 who became familiar to radio listeners with their show 'Sing Something Simple' which remained popular for the entire 1960s and beyond.

    The Stargazers created several very successful records during the early 1950s including two #1s. These were produced with a number of different orchestras, most notably with that of Cyril Stapleton who also had close associations with BBC radio. They became the resident singers with Cyril Stapleton's Show Band- a radio programme that ran for many years from January 1953. Besides their own hits, they were also regularly used as backing singers on the records of a number of UK artists. These included Roy Smith, Dennis Lotis, Dickie Valentine, and Lita Roza.

    1950s & 1960s 45rpm UK Discography

    • Listings include UK 45 singles releases only
    • Many early Stargazers recordings were made available only on 78rpm.
    • Collector's Items are shown In Red
    • See Lower list for EP releases

    Decca F10213 1954 I See The Moon/ Eh Cumpari #1
    Decca F10259 1954 The Happy Wanderer/ Till We Two Are One #12
    Decca F10379 1954 I Need You Now/ 365 Kisses  
    Decca F10412 1954 Rose Of The Wildwood/ Come The Morning  
    Decca F10437 1955 Somebody/ My Baby Don't Love Me No More #20
    Decca F10523 1955 Crazy Otto Rag/ Hey Mr. Banjo #18
    Decca F10569 1955 At The Steamboat River Ball/ Love You A Mountain  
    Decca F10594 1955 Close The Door/ I've Got Four Big Brothers #6 
    Decca F10626 1955 Twenty Tiny Fingers/ An Old Beer Bottle #4
    Decca F10668 1955 The Tender Trap/ When The Swallows Say Goodbye  
    Decca F10696 1956 Zambesi/ When The Swallows Say Goodbye  
    Decca F10731 1956 Hot Diggity/ Rockin' And Rollin' #28
    Decca F10775 1956 She Loves To Rock/ John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith  
    Decca F10867 1957 You Won't Be Around/ Mangos  
    Decca F10898 1957 Honky Tonk Song/ Golly  
    Decca F10916 1957 Who Is It? (It's The Milkman)/ Sorry, You'll Have To Wait  
    Decca F10969 1957 Skiffling Dogs/ Out Of This World  
    Decca F11034 1958 Big Man/ Lonely For A Letter  
    Decca F11105 1959 My Blue Heaven/ Howja Lika  
    Pallette PG9003 1960 Three Beautiful Words/ Manhattan Spriritual  

    EP Discography

    • Collector's Items are shown In Red
    • See Upper List For Singles releases

    Decca DFE6341 1956 "The Stargazers" (w.Syd Dean Band and Johnny Gray Band)  
    Twenty Tiny Fingers/An Old Beer Bottle/Close The Door/I See The Moon
    Decca DFE6362 1956 "Rockin'And Rollin'"  
    Hot Diggity/Rockin' And Rollin'/Zambesi/When The Swallows Say Goodbye


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