The Free Design

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(1967 – 1972, 2000 – present)

The Free Design were a Delevan, New York-based vocal group playing jazzy pop music.

The members were all siblings of the Dedrick family: Chris Dedrick (who wrote most of the songs), sister Sandy Dedrick and brother Bruce Dedrick were the original lineup. Younger sister Ellen Dedrick joined the group later, as did cousin Jeff Dedrick for a brief time, and youngest sister Stefanie joined near the end of their initial career. Their father, Art Dedrick, was a trombonist and music arranger. Their uncle, Rusty Dedrick, was a jazz trumpeter with Claude Thornhill and Red Norvo. They formed the band while living in New York City. Chris has said the group was influenced by vocal groups like The Hi-Los (who performed in Greenwich Village frequently at the time) along with Peter, Paul and Mary and the counterpoint experiments of Benjamin Britten. Their trademark sound involved complex harmonies, jazz-like chord progressions, and off-beat time signatures; all products of Chris’s classical training.

The band released six albums from 1967 to 1972, all on Enoch Light’s Project 3 label. For the most part, they were accompanied on the albums by studio musicians.

Revival of interest

During their career, The Free Design never gained the commercial success they, and a small fan-base, felt they deserved; a plight they noted in their 1969 song “2002 - A Hit Song”, in which they describe how to create a hit, then continue, “there’s just one fact that we can’t quite shirk/ we did all this last time, but it did not work.

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Popular tags: sunshine pop, 60s, pop, baroque pop, easy listening  See more

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• Kites Are Fun
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• You Could Be Born Again
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1		Love You			140
2		Kites Are Fun			89
3		I Found Love			80
4		Bubbles			56
5		My Brother Woody			44
6		Never Tell The World			34
7		Make the Madness Stop			28
8		Michelle			25
9		A Man and A Woman			23
10		When Love Is Young			21
11		2002 - A Hit Song			20
12		You Could Be Born Again			19
13		Umbrellas			18
13		The Proper Ornaments			18
15		Stay Another Season			17

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