Terry Dene

Career

Dene was born in Lancaster Street, Elephant & Castle, London, and was discovered by Paul Lincoln at the 2i's Coffee Bar (the London club that helped launch Tommy Steele, Adam Faith and Cliff Richard) in Soho in the late 1950s. Jack Good, producer of Six-Five Special, and Dick Rowe helped him obtain a recording contract with Decca. At the time he was regarded as the British Elvis and recognised as one of the best voices of the rock and roll era of pre-Beatles Britain. His first single, "A White Sport Coat", in the first seven weeks sold in excess of 300,000 copies, together with "Stairway of Love", which remained in the chart for eight weeks, and his own version of "Start Movin'" at number 14, put his records in the Top 20 of the UK Singles Chart twice in the same year, securing his name in the Guinness Book of Records. [1] He toured Britain, was one of the first to appear in the BBC Television's first pop show, Six-Five Special, and appeared in a film, The Golden Disc.

After being arrested for public drunkenness and breaking a shop window in 1958, and ripping out a telephone box from the wall whilst claiming his passionate love for Edna Savage, Dene was branded as a 'bad apple' and the exemplifier of the 'evil of rock and roll' by the press, and was then conscripted into the Army for national service. He was originally expected to report to Winchester Barracks, where he was due to join the King's Royal Rifle Corps on 7 July 1958, but his call-up was initially deferred until contractual commitments had been completed. When he finally did go in, it was so badly handled by the press (who filmed and publicised his arrival at the barracks) that after two months Dene had to be discharged on psychological grounds as his mental health had deteriorated considerably. By that time the press had almost ruined his career, and the Army offered him a pension as a form of compensation which Dene refused. He later joined the Larry Parnes' stable of stars and toured with them around Britain.

Disheartened by the bad publicity in 1964, Dene turned his back on the British pop scene and became an Evangelist crossing over to singing and writing spiritual and gospel music, recording three gospel albums. He travelled abroad as an itinerant preacher, playing in churches, prisons and other venues, and preached in the Scandinavian Lutheran Church for five years in Sweden where he married for the second time. Two of the gospel albums were released in 1972–73 on Pilgrim Records.

In 1973, Dene released a book, I Thought Terry Dene Was Dead, and around 1984 reformed his group, the Dene Aces, with Brian Gregg. He released an album, The Real Terry Dene, in 1997 which was voted as one of the top forty best listening CDs, and has continued to appear in rock and roll shows. His Decca compilation was released in December 2004 by Vocalion Records. In October 2007, Dene created his own company and label with his partner, Countess Lucia Liberati, LLTD.COM, and in December 2012, released in the UK his new CD, The Best of Terry Dene, featuring a compilation of 12 tracks of his own choice, including his own version of "Mystery Train", a remix of "C'min and Be Loved, So Long", which was written by Dene.

Personal life

Dene married his fellow pop singer Edna Savage in 1958. They later divorced. He married and divorced another three times, and he is now settled with an Italian countess, Lucia Liberati, 21 years his junior, whom he met in London in 2000.

More recent appearances

Dene appeared on Juke Box Heroes in 2011, broadcast by BBC One, in a condensed biopic of his life, and played in September 2004 at the Rock 'n' Roll Weekend Festival in Chippenham, alongside Little Richard, the Comets, and Charlie Gracie. In February 2005, appeared in the Best of British magazine dedicated to British music, and on 2 November 2006, as a 'mystery guest' on series 19, episode 2 of Never Mind the Buzzcocks.

He performed at the 100 Club in London in October 2007, January 2008 and January 2010, in comnemoration of the first Six-Five Special, where he was a regular guest. He performed on 29 February 2008 at Borough Green Rock 'n' Roll Club, backed by Dave Briggs' New Ravens, and appeared in Pop Britannia, broadcast by BBC Four.

Dene appears at the British Music Experience, at the O2 Arena in Greenwich, dedicated to the history of British popular music in the UK over the past 60 years.