TheDakotas

The Dakotas are one of the few original "British Invasion" or "Mersey Beat" bands still touring today. With a history which includes touring and recording with the Beatles, and a schedule which has taken the group from their native UK, to Europe and America, the Dakotas are a totally unique musical experience! The Dakotas, with vocalist Billy J Kramer had international hits with singles such as "Bad To Me", "Little Children", "Do You Want to Know a Secret" and "From A Window". In the early days, much of the material was provided by Lennon and McCartney, who shared the same manager, Brian Epstein.
The Dakotas were formed in Manchester, England, in 1960, and by 1961 the line-up comprised Mike Maxfield (guitar), Tony Bookbinder (drums), Robin MacDonald (guitar) and Ray Jones (bass). They teamed up with local singer Pete Maclaine and played the club and ballroom venues of northern England. Meanwhile, in Liverpool, Brian Epstein wanted to add local boy Billy J Kramer to his ever increasing stable of stars. The Dakotas had played at the legendary Cavern, with the Beatles among others, and quickly gained a reputation as a solid, professional group. When Brian Epstein asked them to back Billy J Kramer, it was an offer too good to refuse. Sadly, original singer Pete Maclaine was the first casualty of this arrangement. He was, and still is a fine frontman.

"Do You Want to Know a Secret" was recorded at Abbey Road studios, with producer George Martin. It stormed up the charts and reached No.2 in the spring of 1963. It must be remembered that the Dakotas and Billy each had separate recording contracts with EMI's subsidiary, Parlophone, and that they were billed as "Billy J Kramer WITH the Dakotas". To maintain the group's identity, the guitar instrumental "The Cruel Sea" was released as a single, and it reached the Top 20 around the same time as "Secret". This Mike Maxfield tune was released in America as "The Cruel Surf", coinciding with the surf craze. Although it didn't chart in the USA, a cover version by the Ventures did make the charts as the flipside of "Walk Don't Run '64".
Whilst the first two singles were still in the UK charts, another single, "Bad To Me" made it three in the Top 30 at the same time! This Lennon-McCartney song went to No.1 that summer. Yet another Beatles song was given to the group for the next single, "I'll Keep You Satisfied" which reached No.4 late in 1963. Remember that the UK charts at the time were extremely competitive, and to have material written by the Beatles and produced by George Martin was an undoubted asset.

The first Billy J Kramer with the Dakotas album, "Listen” was released at the end of 1963, and eventually reached No.11 in the LP chart. Early in 1964, the group felt they needed to release a single that wasn't written by the Beatles and chose "Little Children". This controversial move paid off, and the record went to No.1 in the British charts in the spring of 1964. Later that year, both "Bad To Me" and "Little Children" made the American Top 10, and the group visited the USA, appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show, and playing to sell-out frenzied fans of the "British invasion" sound. The Dakotas with Billy were now at their peak, and the year finished off with a season at the Finsbury Park Astoria in London, with the Beatles.

To coincide with the Christmas gigs with the Beatles, the new single was a Lennon and McCartney song. "From A Window", however, reached only No.10 in the UK charts (No.23 in America) and the group had turned down McCartney's "Yesterday"! The British Invasion continued in America, but musical styles were changing. In 1965, the band recorded Jackie De Shannon's "When You Walk in the Room", but lost out to the Searchers, who took their version to No.1. The Dakotas and Billy J Kramer's last Top 20 chart entry was "Trains and Boats and Planes", which competed with writer Burt Bacharach's own version, in the spring of 1965. By this time, bassist Ray Jones had been edged out of the band and in 1966, Mike Maxfield left, to be replaced by Mick Green from Johnny Kidd & the Pirates. As the Beatles own career went into overdrive, Brian Epstein became an increasingly remote figure to most of his other acts. Following his death in 1967, the time had passed for most of the first wave of British Invasion/Merseybeat groups. By 1968, Billy had gone solo and shortly afterwards, the Dakotas disbanded.

After a chance meeting, the Dakotas were reborn in 1989. Original drummer Tony Bookbinder (Mansfield) was introduced by a former member of Freddie & Dreamers, Bernie Dwyer, to Eddie Mooney. Mike Maxfield was tempted back to the fold, and a keyboard player, Pete MacDonald was added. After 2 years, Pete was replaced by session keyboard player Toni Baker and the band toured Britain, Sweden, Ireland and appeared with all the major 60s and 70s acts. The next Dakotas album "The Beat Goes On", a mix of live and studio recordings was released in 1994.

In 1995, the Dakotas went on tour with The Animals, The Yardbirds, and Denny Laine (ex Wings) and, in summer 1998, appeared in America for the first time since the 60s.

In 1996, Billy J Kramer rejoined the Dakotas for an appearance at the Chelmsford Festival in Britain, in front of 40,000 people. The Dakotas, based in Manchester, England, still stay in touch with Billy, who now lives in New Mexico. In 1998 Pete Hilton replaced Tony Bookbinder on drums, who had left to concentrate on his financial business. Shortly afterwards in April 1999, the band appeared in North Carolina, and returned again in July of that year, where they performed at the Trask Colliseum, along with the Miracles, Randy & The Rainbows, The 5 Americans & Brenda Holloway.

In 2000 the Dakotas teamed up with Wayne Fontana. In addition to UK shows, the band and Wayne appeared in Holland at the Zeendam Festival (along with the Troggs and Sailor). In July, the Dakotas and Wayne were invited to perform at a "British Invasion" weekend at the prestigious Foxwoods Casino Resort in Connecticut, USA. This show was filmed by PBS Television, for national US broadcast in December 2000. Other acts on the show included Peter Noone, Billy J Kramer and Eric Burdon.

The Dakotas brought in the year 2001 by playing at the President's Ball in Krakow, Poland. Next came a 56 date UK tour with Peter Noone, Wayne Fontana, Dave Berry and Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich. The tour ran from February to April, and finished at the London Palladium. In May 2001 the band appeared on the P&O cruise ship "Oriana”, visiting Spain and Portugal. In June the band visited Germany, sharing the stage with Clem Curtis of the Foundations.
The PBS "British Invasion Special” was broadcast nationwide in the US at Christmas 2001.

In 2002, Dakotas keyboard-player Toni Baker, wrote all the music for “Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights”. There was also a UK reunion with Peter Noone in June. In August the Dakotas returned again to America, where they played successful shows in North Carolina.

The Dakotas released their next studio album, "Everlasting”, to coincide with a 70-date "Solid Silver 60's" tour of the UK. The tour featured the Searchers, Wayne Fontana, Dave Dee and Barry Ryan, and ran from February until May 2003. Later that year, Toni Baker wrote the music for "Phoenix Nights 2", again starring Peter Kay.

In the spring of 2004 the Dakotas undertook yet another major UK theatre tour, teaming up once again with Peter Noone and Wayne Fontana, plus Bryan Hyland and John Walker of the Walker Brothers. The band released their fifth album, "Strong”. Almost straight after the tour, the Dakotas started recording tracks for the next Peter Kay TV series "Max and Paddy’s Road to Nowhere”. Toni Baker and Peter Kay once again wrote the theme tune for the show, which was sung by Tony Christie. The Dakotas were the sessionmen on the TV series and also appeared in one episode dressed as various 80s characters and backed Peter Kay singing "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues".

In August 2004 Mike Maxfield suffered a stroke and had to stop performing, although he is still actively involved behind the scenes.
Richard Benson, who had also worked with Toni on the Max & Paddy recordings, joined the band as guitarist but due to his heavy schedule couldn't commit to long-term involvement.
(He’s now touring Europe as “Bjorne” in Abbamania)

Alan Clare took over the role of the band's lead guitarist in December 2006.

Over the next few years, The Dakotas did 2 major tours with the legendary John Walker.

Eddie left The Dakotas in January 2008 to join The Fortunes after their singer Rod Allen sadly passed away.
Paul Rafferty took over the frontman job, but soon he too was to leave the band for health reasons.

In spring 2009 the Dakotas again toured the UK along with The Searchers, The Merseybeats, John Walker & Wayne Fontana
on the Solid Silver 60s Tour.

A third John Walker tour in 2011 was sadly not to be.
John died on 7th May that year.

It was a pleasure to have spent time with John Walker both on & off stage.
He always looked and behaved the true star he was, and was ever the consummate professional, always having time for his fans.
One of the good guys.
It was a privilege to have known him as a musician, singer and friend.

Once again a new CD was released to coincide with this tour.
The CD, called "Destiny" featured many new tracks
including 3 original songs specially written by the band. You can hear and download some these songs on the website www.thedakotas.co.uk

Anyone wanting a copy of this CD can email the band at thedakotasuk@yahoo.com

Marius Jones (bass) and Ronnie Ravey (lead vocals) joined the band in the autumn of 2010, when the band decided to become a 5 piece outfit.

The rest, is history!