Name Den Hegarty Role Singer | ||
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Albums The Amazing Darts, Everyone Plays Darts Similar People Griff Fender, Rita Ray, Rob Davis, Thump Thomson, Hammy Howell | ||
'Joel Sanders Meets His Heroes.' Ep 1. Den Hegarty,
Den Hegarty (born Denis Hegarty, 13 September 1954, Dublin, Ireland) is a rock and roll, doo-wop and a cappella singer.
Contents
Darts - Daddy Cool (TopPop) (1977) (HQ)
Biography
At an early age Hegarty moved to Brighton, England. Hegarty formed the 1950s styled band, Darts in August 1976, along with vocalists Rita Ray, Griff Fender and sax player Horatio Hornblower, all of whom he had played with in the band Rocky Sharpe & the Razors. His role in Darts was as the bass singer, songwriter, arranger and music director. He left Darts in 1978. He signed to Mercury Records and released a solo single "Voodoo Voodoo" in March 1979 which was his only solo hit, reaching number 73 in the UK Singles Chart.
Hegarty made a guest appearance on The Clash's 1980 album Sandinista!.
Hegarty moved into broadcasting, hosting the Tyne Tees Television show Alright Now. After working for BBC Radio 1 (presenting Talkabout), and featuring in three series of Jack Good's final television show, Let's Rock, he moved on to host the final series of Tiswas along with DJ Gordon Astley, and comedian/impressionist Fogwell Flax, along with Sally James. After its demise Hegarty became a cable show quizmaster, and then took another direction providing voices for animated characters in television advertisements.
Hegarty lives with his wife and one son in Devon. He now works as a lecturer in psychology at Exeter College and with the Open University, but he is still singing. He has fronted an a cappella band called Slackapella, plus a 15-piece outfit called Soul Traders, and he still sings with the doo-woppers, The Metrotones.