The Best Of The Dooleys [CD]

Over the last few years pop groups such as Steps, S Club, etc have been formed by record labels, producers, song writers and managers to front their hits. Those groups have been created and moulded into "Hit Machines", they had their time in the limelight then PUBLICLY disbanded.

The Dooleys were a totally different concept. They had been touring clubs and theatres for 7 years before signing to GTO Records with Ben Findon as their song writer and producer.

Before their "over night chart success" their stage act had won them various "Clubland" awards and even seen them tour Russia and Eastern Europe in 1975. Their recording career had began in 1974 when they signed to Alaska Records, they recorded under former Status Quo producer John Schroeder. One of the tracks they recorded was written by Ben Findon and Geoff Wilkins called "Hands Across The Sea". It was the intention that this would be their first single, but a big blow came when they were informed that the song had been entered into that years "Song For Europe" to be sung by Olivia Newton John.

A couple of years later, a couple of members realised that Findon was producing hits for Billy Ocean and set about contacting him, telling the story of their disappointment at not being able to release "Hands Across The Sea".

Findon signed them to GTO and in the summer of 1977 gave them their first hit, the disco orientated "Think I'm Gonna Fall In Love With You" which just missed out on a place in the Top10. "Love Of My Life" charted towards the end of the year, reaching No9.

Sadly, it then took until May 78 before their next release which had been delayed a number of times before release. Maybe by the time "Don't Take It Lying Down" had hit the shops The Dooleys were almost forgotten about. The track crawled to a peak of No60. Though by the end of that summer "A Rose Has To Die" had taken them back to the higher and more respectable area of the chart. (Reaching No11).

Then came 1979, and what a year for The Dooleys. "Honey I'm Lost" took them back into the chart, but suprisingly only reached No24. At this point, there was a big change, until now, all the lead vocals on Dooleys singles had been provided by Jim Dooley. "Wanted" featured sisters Anne and Kathy on lead vocals and soared to No3 behind only The Police and Boomtown Rats in the UK chart (4th Aug). The song even out-sold the corresponding ABBA single (Does Your Mother Know).

"The Chosen Few" reached No7 towards the end of the year, and by the time it left the chart they had spent 6 consecutive months within the UK Top75 singles chart with their 2 Top hits of 1979.

Though sadly, as it seemed to be going so well, things on the UK market started to go wrong for the group. The 1980 singles "Love Patrol", "Body Language" and "In A Riddle" struggled chartwise. This may have been the result of GTO being purchased by Epic / Sony and the company not wishing to promote the former independent labels acts (Billy Ocean was not allowed to release his new material at the time).

Despite these chart setbacks, the group made a final album for GTO in 1981 called "Secrets" with Barry Blue replacing Findon as producer. The sessions with Blue produced 3 singles "Taken At The Flood", "And I Wish" and "The Dancer", but none returned them to the chart heights they deserved.

One further single was released in 1982, "Will You Or Wont You" was written and produced by Mike Myers and Bob Puzey who had assisted Ben Findon on most of the 70s hits. The track also featured Vicki Roe who had replaced Anne as vocalist alongside Kathy and Jim.

The Dooleys continued to tour until 1992 with the number of family members reducing every so often. In 1979 they held the record for the most siblings on a hit single. 6 Dooleys - Jim, Anne, Kathy, Helen, John and Frank were joined by Anne's husband Bob and unrelated drummer Alan for those hits. Early in 1982, Anne and Bob left after starting a family taking youngest sister Helen with them to start a new life in South Africa. John, Frank and Alan departed in 1985 and later formed a new group called The New Dooleys. Jim and Kathy continued the group with a series of musicians until 1992. Kathy then started a solo career which included clubs and also supplying English female vocals for a troupe of Russian Ice Skaters in "Phantom Of The Opera On Ice" in the mid 90s.

This CD includes their 10 UK chart hits plus 4 stageshow favourites and will soon be available as a tribute to one of the finest pop acts the UK has ever produced.