Five friends from Wiltshire, David Harman, Trevor Davies, John Dymond, Michael Wilson and Ian Amey, formed a group in 1961 called Dave Dee And The Bostons. They soon gave up their jobs to make money from music. Apart from performing in Britain, they also occasionally played in Hamburg (Star-Club, Top Ten Club), and in Cologne (Storyville).

In the summer of 1964, British songwriters Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley became interested in them. They made recordings with Joe Meek that proved unsuccessful but eventually gained a recording contract with Fontana Records.

They changed their name to Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich; an amalgam of their nicknames. The distinctive name, coupled with well produced and catchy songs by Howard and Blaikley, quickly caught the UK's public's imagination, and their records started to sell in abundance. Indeed, between 1965 and 1969, the group spent more weeks in the UK Singles Chart than The Beatles.

Vocalist Dee, the ex-policeman, was at the scene of the automobile accident that took the life of American rocker Eddie Cochran and injured Gene Vincent in April 1960. Dee had taken Cochran's guitar from the accident and held it until it could be returned to his family.

They also scored a Number One hit on the UK chart in 1968 with "The Legend of Xanadu". This particular track made it 'big' world-wide - even where they had rarely previously had success - in the United States. Their other Top Ten UK hits included "Hideaway", "Hold Tight", "Bend It", "Save Me", "Touch Me, Touch Me!", "Okay" and "Zabadak".

Although the group never gained much popularity in America, they were big sellers elsewhere in the world. In Australia, for instance, they reached the Top Ten with tracks such as "Hold Tight", "Bend It", "Zabadak" and "The Legend of Xanadu" - the last achieving Number One.

In September, 1969, Dee left the group for a short-lived solo career. The rest, re-billed as (D,B,M and T) continued releasing records, until they broke up in 1972. In the 1980s the group reformed again, but without Dee although there was one further single with him, "Staying With It" in 1983.

In the 1990s, at a time when many other of their contemporary bands were also reforming to tour on the lucrative "oldies circuit", they started performing once more, this time with their one-time leader, Dee.