- Wes Dakus
Wes Dakus (born
April 2 ,1938 inMannville, Alberta ) was the bandleader of "Wes Dakus & The Rebels",Canada 's most influential and popular instrumental group of the 1960s. Fact|date=February 2007Dakus formed the group in 1959, based out of
Edmonton ,Alberta . There were a number of membership changes, but the most popular lineup consisted of Wes Dakus (bass), Bob Clarke (lead guitar), Barry Allen (rhythm guitar), Stu Mitchell (drums) and Maurice Marshall (lead guitar).Their initial recordings were 45s released only in Canada for the
Quality Records label. Acting upon a recommendation while touring with another instrumental group "The Fireballs", they traveled toClovis, New Mexico to record two LPs and various singles at Norman Petty Studios. Petty got them signed and released not only on Canadian, but US labels. As a result, Dakus took a number of Canadian groups down to Clovis to record. The Rebels also backed member Barry Allen on his solo recordings, which also resulted in a number of Canadian chart hits.Petty acted as The Rebels management until 1967 when the group disbanded and Dakus started up his own recording studio in Edmonton.
He produced a variety of top acts at his studio until the late 1980s. He currently resides in
British Columbia, Canada and is still involved with recording projects.The first authorized CDs of the group's material are on the Super Oldies label in 2006.
External links
* [http://www.superoldies.com/featured/wesdakus/wesdakus.html Wes Dakus CD Series]
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