Graham Dee
Now in his 77th year, there’s not much that Graham Dee doesn’t know about the music industry in its prime: the Bowie and Beatles era. Nicknamed Mr Tin Pan Alley in the ’60s and ’70s, he played a pivotal role behind the scenes.
Songwriter, musician, producer and A&R man, he was a recording artist for Pye, staff songwriter for United Artists and ATV Music, produced records for Polydor/Atlantic, recorded music at the legendary Muscle Shoals Studios in Alabama, and worked and toured with many great artists and bands including The Animals, Van Morrison and The Drifters.
Now, after decades out of the industry, he is returning with a vengeance.
Carnaby Street Soul & West Coast Vibes
Carnaby Streey Soul & West Coast Vibes is our tribute to an eccentric, a charmer, an unsung sixties hero…..who still has soul. The character that is Graham Dee has lived one hell of a life, from surviving the blitzing of East London during WW2 to playing with Pink Floyd & Jimmy Page – Graham has done it all and this compilation will look back at the story of his life through music.
Dee was the A&R at Atlantic Records signing artists and producing their songs plus playing on sessions that included pre-Zeppelin Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. One of his tracks A Love I Believe In narrowly missed being a number 1 after Tony Blackburn proclaimed the single as his record of the week only for Blackburn to be playing the flip side, The Bitter With The Sweet. Around this period Graham was working with the likes of Georgie Fame, Elkie Brooks, Mike Berry to name just a few and even filled in for the absent Syd Barrett on some Pink Floyd shows. He eventually parted company with Atlantic after he damaged studio equipment whilst practising pistol fast draws and purchasing a hunting bow, accidentally firing it flooding the office and terrifying the staff.
A lot of the tracks signal specific moments in Graham’s life that involve a lot of these stories. The stories provides the context for the tracks and this breads a certain spirit throughout the compilation. Now in his seventies, Graham Dee is still writing, recording, performing and releasing solo records.