Dave Edmunds

Dave Edmunds was a staunch rock & roll traditionalist who championed Chuck Berry and the Everly Brothers, but still managed to flourish in the psychedelic and new-wave eras.  Born in Cardiff, Wales, Edmunds was a teenager when the first wave of rock & roll hit the UK, and was inspired to form bands with his brothers and local friends.  His first recording band the Human Beans made a barely-noticed single of the folk/psychedelic standard "Morning Dew," but the following year he formed Love Sculpture with bassist John David and drummer Terry Williams, both of whom would remain with Edmunds over the years. Though unknown in America, Love Sculpture scored in the UK with a guitar-slinging version of Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance," which went Top Five. Leaving psychedelia behind, Edmunds embraced his rock roots on his first solo single, the Smiley Lewis song "I Hear You Knocking," which hit on both sides of the Atlantic. By now he'd become a studio wizard, playing every instrument on his 1972 album Rockpile. He became a freelance producer, doing Foghat's debut, the Flamin' Groovies cult classic Shake Some Action and tracks for the David Essex movie Stardust (also a UK hit). More notably he produced the last album for pub-rock band Brinsley Schwarz, which not only introduced the song "(What's So Funny 'bout) Peace, Love & Understanding" but sparked a musical friendship between Edmunds and the band's leader Nick Lowe. Edmunds also found fans in Led Zeppelin, who signed him to their Swan Song label. Edmunds and Lowe's partnership flourished through the late '70s, as they formed the band Rockpile with Williams and co-guitarist Billy Bremner. Though they had contracts that called for separate solo albums, Edmunds' most popular discs, Tracks on Wax 4 and Repeat When Necessary, were effectively Rockpile albums. The latter included Elvis Costello's "Girls Talk," a surefire hit which he donated to Edmunds in a self-described "moment of drunken bravado."  It hit the US charts in 1979, around the same time as Lowe's "Cruel to Be Kind" which also featured Rockpile. The band resolved its contractual problems in late 1980 and made the only official Rockpile studio album, Seconds of Pleasure. However Lowe and Edmunds' friendship was fraying and the band split soon afterward. Edmunds at first stayed in the Rockpile groove, but surprised fans in 1983 by hooking up with then-ELO leader Jeff Lynne, who produced part of Information and all of Riff Raff in synth-driven ELO style. Neither hit, but Edmunds revived his production career and oversaw comeback albums by Dion and the Everly Brothers, plus  the Stray Cats' early albums and Texas blues band the Fabulous Thunderbirds' breakthrough hit "Tuff Enuff."  1990 brought a back-to-roots album, Closer to the Flame, and a "rock & roll revue" tour with Dion, Graham Parker, T-Birds frontman Kim Wilson, and a team of star sessionmen. He kept a lower profile in the '90s and beyond, during part of which he was sidelined by health issues. He toured the US for the last time in 2000 as part of Ringo Starr's band; his last album was an instrumental set, On Guitar: Rags & Classics in 2015. Due to declining health, Dave Edmunds retired in July 2017 after a show in London.