There’s a book about the sixties that I can’t wait to read when it finally comes out. Jeff Dexter is in the process of writing his memoir and I predict this will be the seminal book on the thriving music scene of the 1960s and 1970s. Born Dexter Jeffery Bedwell on August 15, 1946 in Lambeth London, Dexter started out as a dancer and singer, progressing to become a well-known DJ, promoter, rock bandleader, record producer, club host and event organizer.
Jeff Dexter has made just about every move in and around the entertainment industry. He started Mecca Dancing in 1961, he was a dancer and singer with Cyril Stapleton’s Orchestra at London’s Lyceum Ballroom, where he was banned for obscenity after doing The Twist on the dance floor. Dexter was also a band boy when he was on the road, which meant taking care of all the props, extra instruments, and sheet music. During his Lyceum days, Dexter became a disc jockey and MC at Record Hops, working with Ian “Sammy” Samwell and also Jimmy Savile (then the manager of the dance hall at Leeds Locarno). Dexter also worked with many other dance bands, and elsewhere in London, he started and introduced new rhythm bands.
Dexter helped lead Britain’s first mobile record break in February 1962, starting at Greenwich Town Hall followed by other regular promotions in Brighton and Croydon. He also became a partner in a record promotion company with Tony Calder. The first album they promoted together was Love Me Do. Dexter gave up his singing career after he had to shadow Ike & Tina Turner at the Hammersmith Palais. Dexter and Samwell staged many late-night disco shows at nightclubs in London’s West End, including The Flamingo on Wardour Street, The Roaring Twenties on Carnaby Street, and The Crazy Elephant on Jermyn Street.
In 1966-7 Dexter worked as a presenter and DJ at the Tiles Club on Oxford Street hosting all the soul and pop acts including the late Otis Redding. He hosted record-breaking lunchtime shows, immortalized in Tom Wolfe’s book Noonday Underground. Dexter then started The Jeff Dexter Light & Sound Show with the emerging underground and psychedelic scene, featuring acts like Pink Floyd. Dexter also took up residence at the Middle Earth Club in Covent Garden with John Peel, but did not accept an offer to join BBC Radio One.
From 1968 to 1973, Dexter promoted and presented rock shows at the legendary Roundhouse at Chalk Farm, primarily under the Implosion banner. Dexter helped organize and present almost every major festival, including many of the free concerts in Hyde Park. He also changed the name of Eric Clapton & Friends as Derek & The Dominos. Dexter hosted and arranged most of the acts that performed at the 1971 Glastonbury Fayre. He also managed the band America and co-produced their first US number one album, as well as their first single for Warner Brothers Records.
Between 1973 and 1979, Dexter managed and produced numerous artists, brokered deals with Atlantic Records (Isaac Guillory), Warner Brothers (Peter Sarstedt, BIM) and EMI (Alfalpha), and Sire Records (Hawkwind). Dexter has also toured the UK, US and Europe, managed concessions merchandising for many acts and his own music publishing company.
During 1979-81, Dexter moved between Milan and New York, working with well-known Italian groups and recording disco records, but also working with some of his favorite musicians.
In 1981-83, he moved back to the UK to manage a new band called BIM (Cameron McVey was on vocals and Andy Harley on keyboards), signing them to Arista Records, then Warner Brothers Records. Dexter then began promoting retro record shows at West End clubs, and during 1983-89 promoted a regular club, called The 2I’s on Tottenham Court Road at the Empire Rooms, worked with Time Out, organized music and entertainment at large corporate parties .
In 1990, Dexter started managing rock bands again, taking on new partnerships, making multiple records, and spending too much time and money. He joined a group of old friends to bid for a radio license and joined a consortium aiming to relaunch shows at the Roundhouse.
Jeff Dexter, who is currently a successful lifestyle consultant, is separated from his wife Simona Perlasca (after 30 years), has two sons Wesley (event manager and DJ Loki) and Lincoln (art history student).
