Freddie & The Dreamers

                                                 Biography.

At 5ft 2in, with a mop of black hair and Buddy Holly specs, Freddie Garrity, former Manchester milkman and frontman of Freddie And The Dreamers was the most unlikely 1960's sex symbol; part pop star, part music hall turn with a line in corny jokes.                 

On stage, as anyone brought up in the 1960's will remember, he would leap into the air, with legs akimbo at some trouser splitting angle. Yet hits such You Were Made For Me and I'm Telling You Now, made him a teen idol; girls threw knickers at him and tore at his clothes; in America they invented a dance called The Freddie. Behind it all was a story of broken marriages, a fortune made and lost, and a truly resilient entertainer. Until very recently, Freddie now 61 was still performing around the country. His first marriage in 1961 to childhood sweetheart Josie-(they had a daughter, Jackie)---ended when he met Dee, a blonde 12 years his junior, while doing pantomime in Bournemouth in 1973. They moved into an eight-bedroom country house in Dorset. After 14 years the marriage ended and she kept the house. He moved into a caravan and turned to drink. It was music that saved him. Freddie was doing a stint at Butlins in 1989--by now he had teamed up with a new bunch of Dreamers. And so it was that a female fan asked for his number after seeing a show. Her name was Christine and she was 19 years younger than Freddie. They arranged to meet but she nearly didn't recognise him without his toupee. Christine, now 46, was married with three daughters and had just been voted "Perfect Wife" in a TV documentary. When her husband found out about Freddie, he threw her out. She became the third Mrs Garrity in 1990. The couple live in a four-bedroom house near Stoke. Forced into retirement through ill health this past year, He was flying back from the United States to start a ten-week season at the Grand Theatre, Blackpool, when he suffered a heart attack. It left him suffering with pulmonary hypertension, which means he struggles to walk and needs an oxygen supply on hand.