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Sixties pop star Dave Dee loses battle with cancer, dies at 67
Sixties British pop star Dave Dee has died at 67 after a long battle with cancer.
- Reuters
- Published: 23:47 January 9, 2009
London: Sixties British pop star Dave Dee has died at 67 after a long battle with cancer.
The former policeman was the lead singer with Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich and enjoyed a string of chart hits including The Legend of Xanadu, Bend It, and Save Me.
He died early yesterday morning at Kingston Hospital in southwest London with family members at his bedside, fellow band member Ian "Tich" Amey said.
Dee had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2001, but continued to tour with the band, which had reformed in the 1990s.
"The guy kept going... he was an out and out grafter. He never let things get too much in the way," said Amey.
"Three or four years ago he actually went in for little operations while he was on tour.
"He was a very busy man over the years and very well liked."
Dee had left the band in 1969 to pursue a career as a soloist, but rejoined in the 1970s and again in the 1980s.
Dee also spent time working for WEA records, where he signed rock band AC/DC, pop group Boney M and electronic musician Gary Numan, and was a fund-raiser for the Nordoff Robins Music Therapy charity.
He was famous for cracking a whip during live performances of The Legend of Xanadu.
As a police cadet, Dee was the first on the scene at the 1960 car crash that killed American rocker Eddie Cochran and seriously injured singer Gene Vincent in Wiltshire.
Dee retrieved Cochran's guitar from the wreck and kept it safe before it was sent back to his family in the United States.
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