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Darts -
Come Back My Love
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Darts -
Daddy Cool / The Girl Can't Help It
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Darts were a nine-piece, London-based 'doo-wop' vocal group formed in 1976 by bass singer Den Hegarty who, along with Griff Fender, Rita Ray and Horatio Hornblower, had previously performed with Rocky Sharpe and the Razors.
Their first hit was a medley of The Rays' "Daddy Cool" and Little Richard's "The Girl Can't Help It", which reached no.6 in the UK charts at the end of 1977.
They had a total of 12 single chart hits including three consecutive British No. 2's ("Come Back My Love", "The Boy From New York City" and the self-penned "It's Raining"), the only act to achieve this without ever reaching the No. 1 spot. They also released four albums; "Darts", "Everyone Plays Darts", "The Amazing Darts" (a "best-of" compilation) and "Dart Attack". "Darts" and "Everyone Plays Darts" reached the top ten in the album charts, no mean feat in a country where doo-wop was never a big craze.
Hegarty left the group in 1978 and was replaced by Kenny Andrews. The band recorded their fifth album but it remained unreleased until very recently; it has now become known as "Frantic Antics - The Lost Studio Album".
The band continued performing, including a tour of the USA and a Stateside album entitled "Darts Across America". Several personnel changes (including comedian Lenny Henry taking the role of bass singer for a short while) occurred until the band split in 1985. Since then, a variety of "best of" albums have been released, including a Warner's "The Platinum Collection".
Since 2005, the band sporadically reform for one-off concerts, with Griff Fender, Den Hegarty, Horatio Hornblower and others playing to great aplomb to sold-out venues.
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