Guys 'n' Dolls

Career

Guys 'n' Dolls were formed in November 1974, after Ammo Productions held auditions for three young men and three young women to perform as a vocal group. The six original members were: Paul Griggs, David Van Day, Dominic Grant, Thereza Bazar, Martine Howard, and Julie Forsyth (daughter of Sir Bruce Forsyth).

Guys 'n' Dolls released their first hit single, "There's a Whole Lot of Loving" in January 1975. The song was originally recorded in September 1974 by a group of session singers (including Tony Burrows and Clare Torry) for a TV advertisement for McVitie's Fruit Shortcake biscuits. Guys 'n' Dolls were put together to cash in upon the popularity of the jingle and to present it as a single. However the group was not ready in time to record an entirely new version for the single's hasty release and so the voices of the session singers remained on the single, but Martine recorded the ladies front vocal in the Album

In the six years that followed, the group released several more hits, including "Here I Go Again" (1975) and "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" (1976). In 1977 the group had a record chart No.1 in both the Netherlands and Flanders with "You're My World", previously recorded by Cilla Black.

By 1977, Van Day and Bazar had left the band, but went on to have success as Dollar. In 1979, the group took part in the A Song For Europe contest, hoping to represent the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "How Do You Mend A Broken Heart?" Although the show was abandoned due to a BBC strike, the song finished in tenth place of the 12 entries when the judges cast votes on the audio recordings of the songs.

In 1980, Forsyth and Grant had their first child together, plus Martine Howard and the Guys 'n' Dolls Dutch record producer Gerard Stellaard got married and moved to the Netherlands. After marrying, Martine Howard left the group, and was replaced by Forsyth's younger sister, Laura early in 1981. The change was short-lived, when she was replaced by Rosie Hetherington, who had previously been a part of the dance troupe Legs & Co.

In 1983, Griggs released a solo recording of The Beatles' song "You Won’t See Me", with the help of a Dutch recording studio and record company, Dureco in Weesp.

Guys 'n' Dolls finished as a unit in December 1985, having spent eleven years together. Grant and Forsyth, performed as the duo Grant & Forsyth, and had another five hits in the Netherlands. In 1988, Forsyth wrote the UK's Eurovision Song Contest entry "Go" performed by Scott Fitzgerald. Both Forsyth and Grant, together with ex-Jigsaw member Des Dyer, sang backing vocals for the song's performance at the contest in Dublin, Ireland. The song finished second by a margin of one point behind Celine Dion's song for Switzerland, making it the closest ever run contest.

The original line up of Guys 'n' Dolls, (Grant, Forsyth, Griggs, Howard, Van Day and Bazar) reunited for the first time in thirty one years for a major television show in the Netherlands on 22 March 2008. This was preceded on Friday 21 March by a day of press and TV interviews.

Griggs has published a book called Diary of a Musician, based on diaries he kept from 1960. This includes a large in depth section on the story of Guys 'n' Dolls.

Singles

Albums