Den Hegarty
Den Hegarty singing with Darts in London, 1978
Background information
Birth nameDenis Hegarty
Born (1954-09-13) September 13, 1954
Dublin, Ireland
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Singer
  • TV and radio presenter
  • Lecturer
Instrument(s)Saxophone[1]
Years active1976–present
Member ofDarts

Denis Hegarty (born 13 September 1954) is an Irish rock and roll, doo-wop and a cappella singer, television presenter, and psychology lecturer.

Biography

Darts (1976–1978)

At an early age Hegarty moved to Brighton, England. Hegarty formed the 1950s styled band, Darts in August 1976, along with vocalists Rita Ray, Griff Fender and sax player Horatio Hornblower, all of whom he had played with in the band Rocky Sharpe & the Razors (pre-Rocky Sharpe and the Replays).[2] His role in Darts was as the bass singer, songwriter, arranger and music director.

Described as "wild eyed",[3] "wild haired and manic",[4] "maniacal",[5] and as a "kinetic and charismatic performer",[6] Hegarty gave the group a distinctive, anarchic edge. As the former BBC radio executive Lesley Douglas later recalled of a 1970s gig: "I remember sitting in the front row terrified of the Darts singer Den Hegarty, because all the papers had said that he was the mad man of music and that he would dive into the crowd".[7] Music journalist Will Hodgkinson recounted another incident, during a Spanish eurovision TV show in 1979, where "the grandiosity of the whole affair proved too much for the bug-eyed Hegarty, who felt compelled to jump into a fountain and roll around in it, mid-performance", before taking off his socks and wringing them down the neck of actress Sylvia Kristel.[8] Dave Haslam recalled how Hegarty "had a thing for clambering on the speaker stacks at the side of the stage (by far the highlight of the set)".[9]

After Darts (1978–)

Hegarty left Darts in 1978.[10] He signed to Mercury Records and released a solo single "Voodoo Voodoo" in March 1979 which was his only solo hit, reaching number 73 in the UK Singles Chart.[11] The following year, he made a guest appearance on The Clash's album Sandinista!.[12]

Hegarty moved into broadcasting, hosting the Tyne Tees Television show Alright Now.[13] After working for BBC Radio 1 (presenting Talkabout),[14] and featuring in three series of Jack Good's final television show, Let's Rock, he moved on to host the final series of Tiswas along with DJ Gordon Astley, comedian/impressionist Fogwell Flax, and Sally James.[15][16] Hegarty's contributions included "inexplicably sitting in a bathtub full of baked beans or providing loud 'BONG's in his booming bass tones for a section aping the 10 o'clock news called News At Den".[6] After the demise of Tiswas, Hegarty became a cable show quizmaster, and then took another direction providing voices for animated characters in television advertisements.

Hegarty lives with his wife and one son in Devon.[17] He now works as a lecturer in psychology[4] at Exeter College[18] and with the Open University, but he is still singing.[19][20] He has fronted an a cappella band called Slackapella, plus a 15-piece outfit called Soul Traders,[19] and still sings with the doo-woppers, The Metrotones.[21] Hegarty helped revive Darts in 2006[22] and still performs at occasional gigs with the reformed band.[5][20]

References

  1. ↑ "Live soul music at Exmouth Pavilion". Exmouth Journal. 18 April 2019. The band feature former Darts vocalist Den Hegarty on saxophone
  2. ↑ Hardy, Phil & Laing, Dave (1998) Encyclopedia of Rock, Schirmer, ISBN 978-0-02-919562-8
  3. ↑ "Monthly mattress night makes music accessible". Leicester Mercury. 22 February 2007.
  4. 1 2 Murray, John (28 December 2014). "Rocking around the Christmas tree". Fife Today.
  5. 1 2 Perrone, Pierre (13 December 2015). "Chas and Dave's Christmas Beano, Eventim Apollo, review". The Independent. The maniacal Den Hegarty, his three co-vocalists and the five musicians who make up Darts sound as fresh as when they reintroduced Daddy Cool and Duke Of Earl to the charts.
  6. 1 2 Spicer, Daniel (14 June 2021). "Death, Angels & Magic: Daniel Spicer On Elvis Presley's Way Down". The Quietus. Retrieved 25 December 2022. Den Hegarty, was a kinetic and charismatic performer who also became a familiar face to British children, appearing on ITV's anarchic Saturday morning TV show Tiswas, inexplicably sitting in a bathtub full of baked beans or providing loud "BONG"s in his booming bass tones for a section aping the 10 o'clock news called News At Den .
  7. ↑ Burrell, Ian (28 November 2005). "The Interview: Lesley Douglas". The Independent. p. 4.
  8. ↑ Will Hodgkinson (15 September 2022). In Perfect Harmony: Singalong Pop in '70s Britain. Nine Eight Books. p. 204. ISBN 978-1-78870-562-2.
  9. ↑ Dave Haslam (24 May 2018). Sonic Youth Slept On My Floor: Music, Manchester, and More: A Memoir. Hachette UK. p. PT22. ISBN 978-1-4721-2750-1.
  10. ↑ Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. p. 342/3. ISBN 1-85227-745-9.
  11. ↑ "Den Hegarty", Chart Stats. Retrieved 3 July 2010
  12. ↑ Gilbert, Pat (2005) Passion Is a Fashion: The Real Story of the Clash, Da Capo, ISBN 978-0-306-81434-1, p. 279
  13. ↑ Clarkson, Wensley (1996) Sting: The Secret Life of Gordon Sumner, Blake, ISBN 978-1-85782-125-3, p. 85
  14. ↑ "From the Music Capitals of the World: London", Billboard, 21 April 1979, p. 64
  15. ↑ "Pied Pipers Archived 9 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine", Tiswas Online. Retrieved 3 July 2010
  16. ↑ "Tiswas – the TV show", BBC. Retrieved 3 July 2010
  17. ↑ "Villagers have celebrated 20 years of Butterleigh Village Hall". Mid Devon Gazette. 15 October 2019. p. 2.
  18. ↑ "Students screen final show before upgrade". Exeter Express and Echo. 17 December 2009. p. 28. The show was presented by former pop star and television presenter Den Hegarty, now a lecturer at the college.
  19. 1 2 Clarke, Lewis (1 October 2017). "The Soul Traders head to Tiverton for a night of music you can't help but dance to". Devon Live. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  20. 1 2 Little, Lori (28 August 2022). "From Daddy Cool to Duke of Earl: Darts are coming to Medina Theatre". Isle of Wight County Press. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  21. ↑ Leigh, Spencer. "British Doo-Wop". Spencer Leigh: On the Beat. Retrieved 25 December 2022. Den Hegarty became a founder member of the Metrotones who have never had chart success but are a fine club act recreating doo-wop classics as accurately as possible and with comic timing.
  22. ↑ "Bob Fish, singer with Darts, doo-wop and rock'n'roll revivalists who had a string of Top Ten hits in the 1970s – obituary". The Sunday Telegraph. 23 September 2021. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
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