David John Harman, known professionally as Dave Dee (17 December 1941 – 9 January 2009),[1] was an English singer-songwriter, musician, A&R manager, fundraiser and businessman.

He was one of the first on the scene of the April 1960 car crash that resulted in the death of American rock and roll musician Eddie Cochran and serious injury to Gene Vincent.

[3] Harman’s professional career as a singer started in the early 1960s when he formed the group Dave Dee and The Bostons with friends Trevor Ward-Davies, John Dymond, Michael Wilson, and Ian Amey.

[5] Known for their variety act, which included comedy routines and risque comments interspersed amongst the song, they were then discovered by Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley.

After a disastrous audition for Joe Meek which resulted in Meek throwing his coffee all over his studio in a fit of rage due to the group not wanting to comply with his demands,[6] the group signed on to Fontana Records, and changed their name to Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich as according to their producer Ken Howard: “We changed their name to Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich, because they were their actual nicknames and because we wanted to stress their very distinct personalities in a climate which regarded bands as collectives”.

He issued six further solo singles through the end of 1971, all of which failed to chart, and played a Hells Angel in the Marty Feldman comedy film Every Home Should Have One in 1970.

After a few charting songs, he then retired from performing and became an A&R Manager for Atlantic, Magnet and WEA Records,[2] during which period he was at least partly responsible for their signing AC/DC, Boney M and Gary Numan.

Dee suffered from prostate cancer from early 2001, but he continued to perform with his band almost until his death from the disease in Kingston Hospital, Surrey, on 9 January 2009.