The Stargazers

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There have been two British musical groups called The Stargazers:

The original Stargazers, a vocal group founded in 1949 by Cliff Adams, served as back-up singers for Petula Clark on her first recordings. They enjoyed considerable commercial success during the 1950s, including two number one hit singles, "I See The Moon" and "Broken Wings", and were much in demand for back-up work and broadcast work. They were voted "most popular vocal group" by readers of the New Musical Express five years running. Stargazers member Fred Dachtler went on to form The Polkadots, who enjoyed great success in their own right. Beyond their own hit singles and albums, which included a stunning version of "April In Paris," they recorded extensively with the likes of Jo Stafford, Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra. One of Fred's sons is non other than Clark Datchler of Johnny Hates Jazz fame. Clark is now recording under the name of Nightfoxx, and has just released a new album titled "Tomorrow."

A second Stargazers group emerged in the 1980s. Featuring Ricky Lee Brawn, Chris Gardner, Danny Brittain, Anders Janes, John Wallace and others, the group was popular in the UK for their performances of 1950s-style rock and roll. The group performed a mixture of original songs, "rock and roll"-converted standards, and covers of classic 1950s songs, particularly those of Bill Haley & His Comets after whom the group patterned its appearance and performance style. Stargazers guitarist Pete Davenport toured Britain in the early 1990s as a guest member of the Original Comets (he played steel guitar on the live album We're Gonna Party on Hydra Records) while Brawn produced and played drums on the reunited Comets' 1997 album, The House is Rockin for Rockstar Records. More recently (2007) Davenport has worked with the Bill Haley Orchestra in "Rock Around The clock - The Bill Haley Story", an international tribute revue.