Terry Dene

Terry Dene (born Terence Williams; 20 December 1938) is a British rock music singer popular in the late 1950s and early 60s.

Career Dene was born in Lancaster Street, Elephant & Castle, London, and was discovered by Paul Lincoln at the 2i's Coffee Bar (the London club that helped launch Tommy Steele, Adam Faith and Cliff Richard) in Soho in the late 1950s.

In 1957, his first single, "A White Sport Coat", sold in excess of 350,000 copies in the first seven weeks and together with his own version of "Start Movin'" at number 14, put his records in the Top 20 of the UK Singles Chart twice in the same year, securing his name in the Guinness Book of Records. His recording of "Stairway of Love" in 1958 remained in the chart for eight weeks. He toured Britain, was one of the first to appear in the BBC Television's first pop show, Six-Five Special in April 1957, When he finally did go in, it was so badly handled by the press (who filmed and publicised his arrival at the barracks) that after two months Dene had to be discharged on psychological grounds as his mental health had deteriorated considerably. and around 1984 reformed his group, the Dene Aces, with Brian Gregg. from 2018, the project aimed to release a video for each one of Dene's tracks, new and old. Their first video, "Terry Dene - Fever - The Video 2018" was produced and released on 14 December 2018, and featured an original cover of "Fever", recorded by Dene in the early 1960s and the performance of Fiammetta Orsini.

Personal life Dene married fellow pop singer Edna Savage in 1958. They later divorced. He played in September 2004 at the Rock 'n' Roll Weekend Festival in Chippenham, alongside Little Richard, the Comets, and Charlie Gracie. In February 2005, Dene appeared in the Best of British magazine dedicated to British music, and on 2 November 2006, as a 'mystery guest' on series 19, episode 2 of Never Mind the Buzzcocks.

He performed at the 100 Club in London in October 2007, January 2008 and January 2010, in commemoration of the first Six-Five Special, where he was a regular guest. Dene also performed on 29 February 2008 at Borough Green Rock 'n' Roll Club, backed by Dave Briggs' New Ravens, and appeared in Pop Britannia, broadcast by BBC Four.

Dene featured in the archival British Music Experience, which was first exhibited at the O2 Arena in Greenwich starting in 2009.

Singles & Selected Releases