Dave Berry: 60 Years On The Road

Dave Berry in conversation, in person...
...with stories from his pioneering days in Sheffield in the early 60s to his many Top Twenty hits during a six-decade career. Featuring encounters with the Beatles, the Stones and many more big names in the entertainment industry, plus his World tours and European Superstardom.

Before I started my own group (The Blueberries) in around 1962, we’d been attending Dave Berry and the Cruisers gigs for a couple of years, in venues around Sheffield, and at the Victoria Ballroom in Chesterfield. We were all buying the same albums from America, featuring Blues singers Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, etc., and Rhythm’n’ Blues singers Bo Diddley and (of course) Chuck Berry, whose songs would form a large percentage of both the Cruisers and the Blueberries stage sets. In fact, without the early influence of seeing Dave and his band perform the music ‘live,’ we probably wouldn’t have been inspired to start a group ourselves.

From those early days as one of the most respected Rhythm ‘n’ Blues singers in the country, forging a parallel path with such as the Rolling Stones in London, Dave secured a contract with Decca Records and recorded an impressive string of hit records during the 1960s (including Memphis Tennessee, Baby It’s You, The Crying Game, Little Things, This Strange Effect, Mama). This set the scene for his album success in the following decades, and a sixty year touring career, including his particularly huge success in Holland, where he met future wife Marthy.

During the evening you will hear him tell the story of those eventful years, including encounters with many personalities from the entertainment world, including The Beatles, Chuck Berry, Cilla Black, Joe Cocker, Roger Daltrey, Ray Davies, Everly Bros., Wayne Fontana, Hollies, Mick Jagger, Tom Jones, Alexis Korner, Jack Lancaster, Van Morrison, Andrew Oldham, Jimmy Page, Al Powell, Barry Reynolds, Cliff Richard, Rolling Stones, Phil & Ronnie Spector, Dusty Springfield, Pete Stringfellow, Gene Vincent, Bill Wyman, etc.

I will open proceedings with a short overview of my own Chesterfield story, including the securing of Joe Cocker’s record contract for ‘With a Little Help From My Friends,’ my ‘Some Kinda Mushroom’ record store, the ‘Velvet Underground’ Club, and the groups I promoted in Chesterfield (Fairport Convention, Free, Bill Haley, Jethro Tull, Little Richard, Pink Floyd, Yes and many more).

We will have merchandise for sale, including Dave’s book ‘All There Is To Know,’ and my own ‘Sounds in the Shadow of the Crooked Spire’ and ‘Made in Chesterfield’, signed programmes of 1960s tours posters (Rolling Stones at Morecambe with Dave in 1963, and with Blood Sweat & Tears in 1966) plus on display his gold record for ‘This Strange Effect’.
The evening will finish with a Q and A session, where the audience can ask Dave questions which he promises will receive honest and candid answers: not always the case in music related Q and A sessions!

David McPhie (‘The Man in the Hat’)