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The Dakotas will be touring the UK this autumn with Tony Crane of The Merseybeats, Mike Pender from The Searchers & Dave Berry.
In spring 2009 The Dakotas embark on a marathon tour of the UK from the end of Feb to the end of May alongside The Searchers, The Merseybeats, Wayne Fontana & John Walker from The Walker Bros,
The Dakotas are:
Paul Rafferty: Lead Vocals/Bass
Pete Hilton: Drums
Alan Clare: Lead Guitar/Vocals
Toni Baker: Keyboards/Vocals
From the 60s - Right up to Today!
check the website
for venues and dates.
The Dakotas were formed in Manchester,
England, in 1960, the name being suggested by a local promoter who wanted the
band to dress up as native American Indians! By early 1963 the Dakotas were now
signed to Brian Epstein’s NEMS agency, and, thanks to the success of the
Beatles, signed up to EMI records subsidiary label, Parlophone.
Billy J Kramer had been friends with John Lennon for some time and John gave
the group a demo of a new song, "Do You Want to Know a Secret", which
they perfected whilst working in Hamburg at the Star Club. On returning to
Britain, the song was recorded at Abbey Road studios, with producer George
Martin. It stormed up the charts and reached No.2 in the spring of 1963. It
must be remembered that the Dakotas and Billy each had separate recording
contracts with Parlophone, and that they were billed as "Billy J Kramer WITH
the Dakotas". To maintain the group’s identity, the Dakotas’ guitar
instrumental "The Cruel Sea" was released as a single, and it reached
the Top 20 around the same time as "Secret". This Mike Maxfield tune
was released in America as "The Cruel Surf", coinciding with the surf
craze.
The first Billy J Kramer with the Dakotas album, "Listen..." was
released at the end of 1963, and eventually reached No.11 on the LP chart.
Early in 1964, the group felt they needed to release a single that wasn’t
written by the Beatles (!) and chose "Little Children". This
controversial move paid off, and the record went to No.1 on the British charts
in the spring of 1964. Later that year, both "Bad To Me" and
"Little Children" made the American Top 10, and the group visited the
’states, appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show, and playing to sell-out frenzied
fans of the "British invasion" sound.
The Reformation
In the late 80s Eddie Mooney joined the
Dakotas after being a member of the band "Park Avenue". The drummer
was Tony Bookbinder, who had been the original drummer in the Dakotas, and this
connection eventually led to the reforming of the band with Mike Maxfield on
guitar.
The first new studio album since the 60s, "The Dakotas -Volume 1" was
released in August 1991, including a contemporary orchestrated version of the
1963 hit single, "The Cruel Sea". In April 1992 the Dakotas did a
three week tour of Sweden with fellow Manchester act, Herman’s Hermits. Between
1992 and 1994 the band appeared all over the UK, as well as regular trips to
Germany.
In 2003 the Dakotas released their fourth studio album, "Everlasting"
to coincide with a massive 70-date "Solid Silver 60s" tour of the UK
and Ireland. The tour also featured the Searchers, Wayne Fontana, Dave Dee and
Barry Ryan, and ran from February until May 2003. Later that year, the band’s
keyboard player, Toni Baker wrote the theme music for the immensely successful
British TV comedy series "Phoenix Nights", starring Peter Kay.
In the spring of 2004 the Dakotas undertook yet another major 50 date UK
theatre tour, teaming up once again with Peter Noone and Wayne Fontana, plus
Bryan Hyland and John Walker (Walker Brothers). To tie in with the tour, the
band released their fifth album, "Strong" named after the title track
I’m Gonna be Strong. Almost straight after the tour, the Dakotas started
recording tracks for the next Peter Kay TV series "Max and Paddy’s Road To
Nowhere". Toni Baker once again co-wrote the music with Peter Kay for the
show, which featured Tony Christie singing the theme song.
The Dakotas were filmed to appear in an episode of Peter Kay’s "Max and
Paddy". Dressed as various 80s characters, the band also backed Peter Kay
on "I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues".
In August 2004 tragedy struck, when guitarist Mike Maxfield suffered a stroke and had to stop performing.
Alan Clare has now taken over the role of the band’s lead guitarist.
In spring 2007 the Dakotas once more toured the UK along with The Searchers,
The Merseybeats, John Walker & Wayne Fontana on the Solid Silver 60s Tour
& a new CD was released to coincide with this tour.
The CD, called "Evolution" to mark the changes undergone by the band
over the last few years, features many new songs, including an original song
specially written for the band by Toni Baker called "Falling From
Heaven".
You can hear these songs on the music player at the top of the Dakotas myspace
page www.myspace.com/thedakotas
Anyone wanting a copy of the CD can email the band at thedakotasuk@yahoo.com
Eddie left The Dakotas in January 2007 to Join The Fortunes, after their long-standing frontman, Rod sadly passed away.
Paul Rafferty is the new lead singer/bass player with the band.
Paul was well known to Toni & Pete
from earlier years on Piccadilly Radio as a singer/songwriter & performer.
Paul has toured Britain before with his own band supporting Bucks Fizz and has
had two singles released on EMI label: ’The Man behind The Scenes’ which he
wrote himself, and ’Too Late Now’ written for him by Junior Campbell. They were
recorded at Abbey Rd Studios London.
For a few years, Paul sang & played bass at ’Bookbinders’ a top Manchester
night club. The owner of the club, the late Brian Bookbinder was also the uncle
of Tony Bookbinder the Dakotas’ original drummer! Synchronicity!
Paul also appeared on LWT’s ’Search For A Star’ produced by John Kaye Cooper
and ’Coming Up’ produced by Johnny Hamp.
Several great singers & musicians were considered for the role of Dakotas’
frontman, but Paul’s experience & fabulous vocals made him the perfect man
for the job. His natural love of live gigs & recording made him feel
instantly at home in his new environment.
Toni Baker joined the Dakotas early in the 90s, though he has a
long history of working in well known bands. He played on Billy Ocean’s early
recordings in the 70s, & was a member of "Shabby Tiger", a hugely
successful group in Europe, with many hit singles, such as the No.1, "Slow
Down". Toni, who did sessions for Lisa Stansfield is still a top UK
session man, & owns his own
recording studio "Moose". He is also a talented songwriter, who had a Number 5 hit in Japan with Eat You Up.
More recently Toni has written all the
music, including the TV theme tunes, for Britain’s top comedian Peter Kay on
his highly acclaimed comedy series "Phoenix Nights" and Max &
Paddy’s Road to Nowhere. Toni and fellow band member Pete Hilton also starred
in the first episode of the first series of Phoenix Nights as members of a folk
band called "Half A Shilling". Toni continues his production and
session work for major companies including "League of Gentlemen", and
a CD containing much of his recent TV work - The Best of Peter Kay So Far - was
released in December 2005.
Pete Hilton joined the Dakotas in 1999, but has also a long
established pedigree. He is a well respected session drummer, and has been
touring since 1963. In the late sixties Pete worked the original Liverpool
Cavern Club with the eminent classical guitarist Robin Hill. He and Robin
formed a jazz rock band “Spring”. Pete went on to work alongside many greats
such as Joe Cocker, Canned Heat, Deep Purple, & Traffic. In the late
seventies Pete worked theatres throughout the UK with stars such as Frankie
Howerd, Rolf Harris, Tommy Cooper and Bob Monkhouse. In the late seventies
while working with Family Affair (also featuring Alan on guitar) Pete grabbed
the opportunity to gig with the Supremes. He also worked alongside David Essex,
who later inspired him to perform in Godspell while Pete was living in Canada.
He is passionate about jazz and classical music and was delighted to
collaborate once again with Robin Hill to perform the Claude Bolling concerto.
Pete is currently recording again with Robin & continues to teach drumming,
as well as performing with the Dakotas.
Alan Clare joined the band in December 2006. His varied guitar
talents lend themselves perfectly to The Dakotas’ many faceted musical styles.
Alan has worked in many bands, including Freddie & the Dreamers alongside
Pete Hilton, and is still a major session player, having worked with artists as
diverse as the Supremes, Dionne Warwick, Buddy Greco, Cliff Richard, Gene
Pitney, Gerard Kenny, Kenny Lynch, Lynn Paul and Ken Dodd.
As well as being one of the North’s leading session guitarists, Alan also
teaches a master class in advanced jazz guitar techniques.
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