On This Day 22/10/1975 Showaddywaddy

On this day, 22 October 1975, Rock ‘n’ Roll band Showaddywaddy played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre with support provided by Arrows. The band had just released their second album Step Two.

The band was formed in 1973 by the amalgamation of two groups, Choise (Dave Bartram, Trevor Oakes, Al James, and Romeo Challenger) and the Golden Hammers (Buddy Gask, Russ Field, Rod Deas, and Malcolm Allured), the latter often known simply as The Hammers. They both played at the Fosse Way pub in Leicester, and soon discovered shared musical tastes.

After playing together in jamming sessions, they joined together permanently, and Showaddywaddy were born. This led to an eight-member band, with the unusual feature of having two vocalists, two drummers, two guitarists, and two bassists. The band's first gig as professional musicians was at the Dreamland Ballroom in Margate, Kent, on 1 September 1973., although the first gigs under the Showaddywaddy name were in 1972.

Showaddywaddy won one programme on the ATV series New Faces, in November 1973, and were runners-up in the "All Winners Final", which was broadcast on 28 December 1973. They have made nearly 300 television appearances, including their own BBC TV special, Showaddywaddyshow, broadcast between Christmas and New Year in 1980. The band also appeared in the 1975 film Three for All, where they performed "The Party" from their 1974 debut album.[citation needed] Their first single, "Hey Rock and Roll" (written by the band), was released in April 1974. It reached number two on the UK Singles Chart.

On This Day, 06/09/1983 Showaddywaddy

Images may be subject to copyright

On this day, 6 September 1983, rock ‘n’ revivalist band Showaddywaddy played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall.

The band was formed in 1973 by the amalgamation of two groups, Choise (Dave Bartram, Trevor Oakes, Al James, and Romeo Challenger) and the Golden Hammers (Buddy Gask, Russ Field, Rod Deas, and Malcolm Allured), the latter often known simply as The Hammers.

They both played at the Fosse Way pub in Leicester, and soon discovered shared musical tastes. After playing together in jamming sessions, they joined together permanently, and Showaddywaddy were born.

This led to an eight-member band, with the unusual feature of having two vocalists, two drummers, two guitarists, and two bassists. The band's gig as professional musicians was at the Dreamland Ballroom in Margate, Kent, on 1 September 1973. although the first gigs under the Showaddywady name were in 1972.

They had most of their biggest hits with covers of songs from the 1950s and the early 1960s. These included "Three Steps to Heaven" (originally by Eddie Cochran in 1960), "Heartbeat" (originally written and recorded by Buddy Holly), "Under the Moon of Love" (originally a US hit for Curtis Lee in 1961, again co-written by Tommy Boyce), "When" (originally by the Kalin Twins), "You Got What It Takes" (originally by Marv Johnson) and "Dancin' Party" (originally by Chubby Checker).

These six singles were all produced by Mike Hurst (a former member of the Springfields). On the South African chart, "Three Steps to Heaven" reached number 6 in 1975 and "Under the Moon of Love" number 6 in 1977