Showaddywaddy: The Rock n Roll Band from Leicester!

If you’re a sucker for nostalgia, you’ll remember and love the 70s pop band Showaddywaddy, their catchy rock-n-roll tunes fronted by handsome singer Dave Bartram (unusually, this band had ‘two of everything’ – singers, bassists, drummers and guitarists).

What you may not know is that they were from the very un rock-n-roll county of Leicestershire! First finding fame on the TV show New Faces, they were know for their hits including ‘You Got What It Takes‘.

They still perform at clubs around England (under a mostly different line-up, as Dave left the band after 38 years). Though they likely don’t dance as fast! Dave remains the band manager.

Dave (who with his wife has now recovered from a serious bout of COVID that completely knocked him off his feet for weeks) even wrote a book The Boys of Summer, an entertaining history of the band’s days on the road, touring England’s various bucket-and-spade resorts to entertain the masses.

And recently, Romeo Challenger (the Antiguan drummer you may remember would sing ‘Come on little  darling, take my hand’ from his drumkit in the hit song Under the Moon of Love, recently donated money to a Salvation Army shop, after it found and returned stolen merchandise from the band.

He said later the shop staff’s honesty meant that ‘it was only right for us to give the proceeds back’. The charity shop owner thanked him for using the find, to help local homeless people.

Another Famous Singer from Leicestershire

Engelbert Humperdinck was also from these parts. His exotic looks may suggest Indian heritage, but his name was made up, created by his manager to make him sound more exotic. His real name is Arnold!