- Dumb Blondes
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Dumb Blondes Origin England Genres Hard rock Years active circa 1977-1980 Associated acts Lucy, Tush, Girl, Def Leppard The 'Original' Dumb Blondes as they were initially called were a Punk/Rock/Glam band with the occasional touch of Reggae which included current Def Leppard and Manraze guitarist Phil Collen.
In 1977 the band consisted of singer Jeff Hepting, guitarist Phil Collen, bassist Pete Webb, and drummer Fred Ball aka Jean Harlow, Phylis, Pet Roleum and Pinky!
The 'Original' Dumb Blondes had high interest from EMI and were given free recording time at studio by Ronnie Beck of Feldman/Trident Music who were the publishers of Queen who recorded Queen I & II and also the soundtrack to Flash. The 'Original' Dumb Blondes recorded about 6 songs which included: "The Hooker", "", "Blue Smoke/Two Stroke", "Old Time Movie Star", "Spider's Web", and "MoneyGrabber". Nothing materialised out of this (probably due to the explicit lyrics to some of the songs of which the band refused to change!) these songs are now available on youtube.
Hepting, Collen and Ball had previously played together in the band Tush.Original members of Tush were : Tony Miles, Mickey Tickton, Robert White and George Junor.
Collen & Webb were previously in a band called Lucy, which had 2 singles out on Lightning Records titled "Really Got Me Goin'" and "Never Never".After Dumb Blondes, Collen went on to the band Girl with a very, very brief appearance (about a week or two) by Pete, this was after bassist Mark Megary and before Simon Laffy and before they were signed to Jet Records. Pete was never an official member of Girl it must be said.
Fred Ball went on to perform in a band called XFX and is currently in a band called Slam.
Pete Webb ventured into several bands after this including Dumb Blondes (mark II) with Jeff and new members Paul Mason (guitar), Andy Tompsett (keyboards), Graham Garrett (drums).
Dumb Blondes (mark II) released a double 'a' sided single (1980) titled 'Strange Love' & 'Sorrow' (the McCoys song which was a big hit in 1966 by the Merseys) on the then Independent Fresh Records (Fresh 21) which was produced by none other than Pete "Overend" Watts and Dale "Buffin" Griffin the bass & drums of Mott the Hoople
Amongst other bands Pete was involved in were Tarazara, The Union (not the Luke Morley Union), WellHung, Metalworks and last information we have is currently the bassist in top tribute to Black Sabbath & Ozzy Osbourne in the band The Sabbath.
Graham Garrett left Dumb Blondes to record and tour Japan with Panache, before forming Ya Ya with Panache band mate and bassist Terry Stevens. Jeff Hepting also toured with Panache in Japan.
Jeff Hepting later sang with the outrageous Glam Wrock party band The Sugar Plums and also toured with 80s tribute band Spandex Belly.
Jeff Hepting now plays with covers band ARCHIVE who are based in Waltham Forest, London
References
Categories:- English rock music groups
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