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David Bowie & The Konrads - 1963 - The Konrad Rehearsals
The Konrads were David Bowie's first professional band. The group consisted of: David Jones, (David's real name), (vocals, tenor saxophone), Neville Wills (guitar), Alan Dodds (guitar), Dave Crook (drums), George Underwood (vocals). George Underwood left after a short time. Apparently the name Kon-rads came about whilst they were appearing with Jess Conrad, who introduced them as "my Conrads". The hyphen was removed at David's insistence. By the end of 1962 David Hadfield had replaced Dave Crook on drums. Also joining the band were Rocky Shahan (real name Chaudhari) on bass guitar and on vocals were Roger Ferris, and two sisters Christine and Stella Patton (now Gall). David changed his surname to 'Dave Jay' because he was inspired by Peter Jay And The Jaywalkers, who according to David were only one of two British bands that 'knew anything about saxophones'. On Friday, August 30th, The Konrads entered Decca Studios, Broadhurst Gardens in West Hampstead for the first time and cut their only recorded record entitled: 'I Never Dreamed'. The song was written by David, Roger Ferris and Alan Dodds, the main vocals are by Roger Ferris, with David taking the harmonies. Several acetates were cut by Decca. Drummer David Hadfield said the song concerned an 'air crash'. Soon after this recording, David left the band, though the band stayed together playing the club circuit and even toured as the opening act with The Rolling Stones. David said he became dissatisfied with The Konrads because of their choice of song repertoire. He wanted to play more blues numbers instead of the pop standards they chose to cover. 01 - The Better I Know 02 - Now I'm On My Way 03 - It's Too Late 04 - I'm Over You 05 - Judgement Day 06 - I Didn't Know How Much 07 - I Thought Of You Last Night LINK
