The John Dummer Band also known as John Dummer's Blues Band, John Dummer's Famous Music Band, John Dummer's Ooblee Dooblee Band and The John Dummer Band Featuring Nick Pickett[1] was a British blues band, of the 1960s and 70s, who "hung forever on the cusp of a major step forward, but never quite made it".[2] It was noted for its extensive roster of members, including Graham Bond, Dave Kelly, Jo Ann Kelly, Tony McPhee and Pick Withers, and for supporting US bluesmen such as Howlin' Wolf and John Lee Hooker on UK tours.
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The band was formed by drummer John Dummer (born 19 November 1944, Surbiton, Surrey). He formed Lester Square and the G.T's in 1963, and toured the UK and Germany for 2 years, before briefly leaving the music industry.[3] He formed the John Dummer Blues Band in 1967.[4] The original line up included Dummer (drums); Dave Kelly and Roger Pearce (guitars); Tony Walker (bass); and Steve Rye (harmonica)[4] Walker, Rye and Pearce left and Bob Hall (piano), John O'Leary (harmonica) and Iain "Thunder" Thompson (bass) joined. The band then turned professional and Tony McPhee joined, before they recorded their first album Cabal (1968). Soon after, McPhee left to reform The Groundhogs being replaced by Adrian Pietryga for the second album John Dummers Band.
After the third album the band "drifted apart", only to reform when they discovered that their song "Nine By Nine" from their third album was #1 in France. By the next album Blue (1972) the band had reduced to a four-piece (Dummer, Pickett, Pietryga and Thompson) Oobleedoobleejubilee (1973) again included the Kelly siblings, along with Michael Evans (violin) and Roger Brown (vocals). The next album, also including Graham Bond (sax), Pick Withers (drums), Pete Emery (guitar) and Colin Earl (Foghat) (keyboards) was shelved, and the band broke up in 1974, the last album was finally released in 2008 as the Lost 1973 Album.
Became a Promotion Manager; spending 3 years at MCA and a year at Electra, before joining A&M. In 1977 he became the drummer with Darts, joining former Dummer Band members Thompson and Currie, and wrote songs including Dart's "Can't Get Enough Of Your Love", which reached #45 on the UK singles chart, before leaving in 1980.
His next group, True Life Confessions, featured his wife Helen April, second drummer Manic Esso from The Lurkers, bassist Harry Kakouli from Squeeze, guitarist Mark Nevin and two Afro-French girl singers. They issued several records on A&M, but none charted.
Dummer and his wife also performed as a duo, and had a UK top 50 single with their version of "Blues Skies" and were also known for "Own Up If You're Over 25".
He then managed The Screaming Blue Messiahs for three years, before restoring properties in France and Portugal. He formed Screwy Truants with French musicians, sang and played harmonica with French guitarist Jean-Claude Manuel, and drummed with harmonica player and blues singer Nico Toussaint. He is currently an antiques trader, furniture restorer and novelist.[3]