Jimmy Dunning, born in Liverpool, England, is a guitarist and singer-songwriter who has written songs for stars such as Tom Jones and Cilla Black and was signed to EMI.
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Jimmy began playing the Guitar at 15, taking lessons from Eric Parr and was heavily influenced by French Gypsy Guitarist, Django Reinhardt. Jimmy played the Liverpool scene making a name as a Guitarist and playing with various groups including Ralph Walters and the Dusty Road Ramblers, a country band.
In the early 1960s Jimmy moved to South Africa where he took the role of lead guitarist and singer with The Bats, South Africa's answer to The Beatles. Jimmy toured with The Bats in the 1960s and appeared on albums including All I Got and Shabby Little Hut.
In the early 70's Jimmy was back in the UK and signed to EMI. He recorded at Abbey Road Studios and worked as a songwriter. He wrote two 'A' side singles, "Golden Days" for Tom Jones and in 1974 Cilla Black released "Baby We Can't Go Wrong" as a single from her eighth album In My Life. "Baby We Can't Go Wrong" was also used for "The Cilla Black Show" theme on television.
In 2003 Jimmy began working on his first solo album with Paul Burgess of Celtic folk band, Legacy. The album showcased many of Jimmy's classic songs including the title track "Try Me Buy Me", a song about an old guitar hanging in a music shop. The album was released in the summer of 2004.
Jimmy Dunning died on November the 5th 2008. His family hope to release further music from his personal archive.
In January 2010, Jeannie Dunning (Jimmy's wife) and Paul Burgess began cataloguing and transferring to digital Jimmy's large collection of reel to reel tapes dating back to the 1960s. Over 400 hundred recordings were transferred which are now under review before selecting material for remastering and release. In March 2010 Jimmy's album Try Me Buy Me was made available through popular download stores such as iTunes and Amazon.