Updated: October 2006
He was top of the Hit Parade in the US, created uproar at the London Palladium with Bruce Forsyth and made people laugh with his antics on stage. Freddie Garrity believes in humour as the best medicine and he puts his belief into practice these days. He has been out of show business for three years, since he sang at the Clacton Ballroom. But he doesn’t miss it, He said, he’s past retiring age anyway and his health is less than top 10. “I missed it at first but I’m glad I’m away from it now. I didn’t like the back-stabbing but we had a lot of fun,” he said. He also made some good friends and his saddest moments come when he learns of yet another sad loss of one of the nice people from the music scene – Frankie Vaughan & Matt Monroe – for instance. Freddie still retains his humour and his sense of fun, despite his disabilities.
His final curtain came down after a show in Connecticut. Freddie & The Dreamers piled into a chauffeur driven car to rush to the airport to fly home and they were due to do a show in Nottingham the next day. The journey took nearly twice as long as expected and they missed the flight. They slept in the airport but on the way back, Freddie suffered a mild heart attack. Fortunately there was a doctor on board who treated him during the flight. “He couldn’t have been very well paid; he was on the back of the aircraft,” Freddie joked. At Heathrow, he was taken off the plane by paramedics and rushed to Ashford Hospital where he was kept in for a week.
Since then his health has deteriorated and he is now on 20 tablets a day and a nebuliser. When it is possible to keep him in a serious mood, he will explain that he has systemic sclerosis secondary to pulmonary hypertension. He is on what he calls ‘Diabolical steroids’ and gets out of breath, spends a lot of time in a wheelchair and therefore can’t go upstairs. He and his wife Chris sold their big house and moved into a bungalow nearby which they have been improving gradually. “I’m a couch potato really, but Chris and I love caravanning. We’ve just bought a new motor home and plan to go over to Spain and Portugal. I was sent a disabled sticker so I went straight out and parked on double yellow lines – just because I could!” he said. He is writing his autobiography and has already penned 32,000 words; but the publishers wanted more, so he has to dig deep in his memory to come up with more recollections of his life history.
Freddie has been married three times and has three daughters and a son, called Matt after Matt Busby; they are Man United supporters. He is a grandfather three times over. One of his most cherished possessions is a photograph of Roy Orbison’s unmarked grave which reminds him of some of his finest memories of being on tour with Roy. He tells jokes all the time and sometimes it’s difficult to know whether he is serious or if there is a punch line coming up. He went to see the Everly Brothers in Bournemouth where he used to live. He met them in the bar afterwards; one drank everly and the other smoked everly. He went into a phonebox and instead of putting in his credit card, he put in his donor card; It cost him an arm and a leg ! He was a shoe salesman but got the boot; then he sold sweepers but got the brush-off. That’s Enough Freddie Please!
Of course, Freddie And The Dreamers were known for their zany humour in their stage act – that famous high jump lifting Freddie above his normal five feet four inches, legs folded under him; Band member Bernie talking to his drums; Roy standing there doing nothing (allegedly); Derek and Pete trying to stay focussed (what both of us?); the one-liners “Oh! One eata banana (Oh Juanita)” and the dressing up of course. We made people laugh but they also enjoyed our songs and music,” said Fred.
It’s doubly sad, then, that Freddie has been defined as “Too Old” for the vital organ transplants he needs to keep him going. It’s a pity we haven’t any spares we can donate for him. If you would like to send good wishes to Freddie, we will pass them on to him.
My favourite Freddie and the Dreamers track is “A Little You”, it got to No 26, in April 1965
(merseybeatlover1)
Article used with permission from David Parker (The Beat Magazine) – See Links page
Freddie And The Dreamers Do The Freddie lyrics
He’s a happy feat
cause he’s to the beat
of the Freddie Freddie
But a guy in front making a lining bop
can you ready? ready
Kick your feet up , swing your arms up too
move your head both ways, like you see me do
then just repeat through the swinging beat
Do the Freddie , Freddie
Do the Freddie, Freddie
It’s easy to ask give your self a chance
Do the Freddie
Its a thing to do, kids will laugh at you
So do the freddie
Kick your feet up , swing your arms up too
move your head both ways, like you see me do
then just repeat through the swinging beat
Do the Freddie , Freddie
Do the Freddie, Freddie
Kick your feet up , swing your arms up too
move your head both ways, like you see me do
then just repeat through the swinging beat
Do the Freddie , Freddie
Do the Freddie, Freddie
Yes the Freddie X3
HE TALKED TO HIS DRUMKIT!
‘If you got to make a fool of somebody’ was the music played at the funeral of ‘Dreamers’ , Drummer, Bernie Dwyer, who died on December 4th 2002 aged 62.
Many stories about ‘Bernie’, contact email link for more info.
Freddie’s still telling us now…
Freddie Garrity of ‘Freddie & The Dreamers’ fame is still telling jokes despite his desperate illness. He collapsed in early july while travelling in his new motorhome and was rushed to Bangor Hospital, Wales, where he was given extra oxygen and had a blood test. He sprained his groin when he fell which added to his discomfort. His wife Chris said: “He just stops breathing and goes.” Freddie joked: ” I feel as if I’m travelling round all these hospitals testing their food.”
From the August 03 issue of ..’The Beat’ mag, see links page.
Freddie with friends, including PJ Proby. 2004
FREDDIE UPDATE 2 SEPTEMBER 2003
Freddie Rand, my friend, on 1st Sep 03 is in good spirits, he has been away in Wales with his wife and motor home. He is feeling better than he has for ages, he said, and is on new medication, although still on oxygen and in his wheelchair. His jokes don’t improve! He met up with Gerry Marsden by chance while having a pint in a local pub in Anglesey.
STEADY FREDDIE
After Jim Proby’s (P.J), Musical Heritage ‘tribute’ lunch in London last month (June 2004) one of the star guests was taken poorly. Freddie Garrity was taken ill and an ambulance was called. Being Freddie, he refused to go to hospital, saying once he was in hospital he might not come out again, so the ambulance crew treated him at the venue and got him through the difficulties. Freddies daughter Victoria said, Freddies is taking each day as it comes. Freddie is in a wheelchair and on oxygen 24 hours a day. To send Freddie your good wishes email on this site, they will be sent onto Freddie and his wife Christine.
DISCOGRAPHY
1. FREDDIE AND THE DREAMERS (Columbia 33SX 1577, 1963)
2. YOU WERE MADE FOR ME (Columbia 33SX 1663, 1964)
3. SING ALONG PARTY (Columbia SX1785, 1965)
4. IN DISNEYLAND (Columbia SCX 6069, 1966)
5. KIND FREDDIE AND THE DREAMING KNIGHTS (Columbia SX 6177, 1967)
6. OLIVER IN THE UNDERWORLD (Starline SRS 5019, 1970)
7. BREAKING OUT (Arny’s Shack Records, AS 025, 1978)
FREDDIE GARRITY SOLO: FREDDIE GARRITY (Bus Stop Records 5002, 1974)
COLLECTIONS:
1. BEST OF FREDDIE AND THE DREAMERS (EMI NUT 11, 1977)
2. THE BEST OF FREDDIE AND THE DREAMERS (C5 503, 1987)
3. THE E.P. COLLECTION (See For Miles SEE 299, 1990)
4. THE BEST OF THE EMI YEARS (CD only) (EMI 0777, 99715 2 7, 1992)
SINGLES:
- If You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody/Feel So Blue (Columbia DB 7032) 1963 3
- I’m Telling You Now/What Have I Done To You? (Columbia DB 7086) 1963 2
- You Were Made For Me/Send A Letter To Me (Columbia DB 7147) 1963 3
- Over You/Come Back When You’re Ready (Columbia DB 7214) 1964 13
- I Love You Baby/Don’t Make Me Cry (Columbia DB 7286) 1964 16
- Just For You/Don’t Do That To Me (Columbia DB 7322) 1964 41
- I Understand/I Will (Columbia DB 7381) 1964 5
- A Little You/Things I’d Like To Say (Columbia DB 7526) 1965 26
- Thou Shalt Not Steal/I Don’t Know (Columbia DB 7720) 1965 44
- If You’ve Gotta Minute Baby/When I’m Home With You (Columbia DB 7857) 1966
- Playboy/Some Day (Columbia DB 7929) 1966
- Turn Around/Funny Over You (Columbia DB 8033) 1966
- Hello, Hello/All I Ever Want Is You (Columbia DB 8137) 1967
- Brown And Porter’s (Meat Exporters) Lorry/
- Little Brown Eyes (Columbia DB 8200) 1967
- Little Big Time/FREDDIE GARRITY: You Belong To Me (Columbia DB 8496) 1968
- It’s Great/Gabardine Mac (Columbia DB 8517) 1968
- Get Around Downtown Girl/What To Do (Columbia DB 8606) 1969
- Susan’s Tuba/You Hurt Me Girl (Philips 6006 098) 1970
- Here We Go/I Saw Ya (Polydor 2059 041) 1978
REISSUES:
FREDDIE AND THE DREAMERS EMI, 1A 052 06566, 1983)
Import-only cassette available from The Netherlands.
Track Listing for the most complete Freddie and the Dreamers collection on CD:
FREDDIE AND THE DREAMERS – THE BEST OF THE EMI YEARS
- If You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody
- Feel So Blue
- I’m Telling You Now
- What Have I Done To You
- You Were Made For Me
- Send A Letter To Me
- The Viper
- Yes I Do
- Sally Anne
- Money
- Over You
- I Love You Baby
- Come Back When You’re Ready
- Don’t Make Me Cry
- I Understand
- Just For You
- Jailer Bring Me Water
- It Doesn’t Matter Anymore
- See You Later Alligator
- Tell Me When
- I Think Of You
- I Don’t Love You Anymore
- A Little You
- Things I’d Like To Say
- Thou Shalt Not Steal
- Silly Girl
- Do The Freddie
- A Love Like You
- If You’ve Got A Minute, Baby
- When I’m home With You
- Playboy
- Turn Around
- Brown And Porters ( Meat Exporters) Lorry
- Gabardine Mac
Thanks to Kenny Winston for help compiling this list.
STEADY FREDDIE 2
Celebrating his 68th birthday at the beginning of November, Freddie Garrity ‘entertained’ about 30 guests, mostly relations he hadn’t seen for 20 years. “They are all waiting to see me die” he joked. “I sat in my wheelchair and everyone served me drinks. Then i went to bed at about 11pm. I was knackered” he added.
But he was particulary pleased to see his old mate Dave Buckley from The Ivy League. Freddie presented ‘Dreamer’ Nick St John Foti with a guitar which he strummed a bit then rattled off ‘I’m Telling You Now’. Freddie tells me he has written his obituary and eulogy. He is going to be cremated and his gravestone will state ‘Flambie Freddie’. Having been refused treatment for his heart and lungs problem, the funny man of pop is bravely resigned to his fete. Yet Freddie is still full of fun and mischief despite his cruel disabilities. And his jokes don’t really get any better, either.
Special Christmas Greetings to you. Fred.
Just called ‘David Parker’…editor of…’The Beat Mag’..(a bloody goog magazine!) 25 December 2004 1:35pm, talked to David, and all that… was surprised to know that ‘Freddie Garrity’, of The Dreamers has looked at my site over 5 times now…………….well Freddie… enter my guestbook, at merseybeatabd.co.uk….all the best to you Freddie and Chris.
Best wishes, Brian & Kath.
Information from David Parker. The Beat Magazine – See Links Page