| Biography | Jeff Dexter (born Jeffrey Dexter Bedwell) is a British disc jockey (DJ), club promoter, record producer and former dancer, who rose to prominence in the mid-1960s as the resident DJ at the influential London club Middle Earth. He is closely associated with the Mod scene and popularising The Twist in England.
Dexter has been interested in clothing and style from a young age, influenced by his mother and brother, and as a boy joined the Sea Scouts and the Boys' Brigade so that he could wear the uniform. He did dressmaking and tailoring which made him popular with girls which he enjoyed. Often he was the only boy at some of the places where he mixed.
In September 1961 Dexter was banned from The Lyceum for dancing the Twist, which had just arrived in England. According to Dexter, the management thought the dance obscene. Two weeks later he managed to get back in by promising not to do the dance, but two weeks later, ironically, the Twist was then demonstrated by the Arthur Murray School of Dancing at The Lyceum. Dexter's dancing was filmed and included in the Pathé newsreels shown in cinemas. As a result, he was hired by the Lyceum as a dancer aged fifteen, even though under sixteens were officially blocked from admission to the club. He dropped his tailoring and music studies to take the job and later said: "The thought of being paid to dance with women was just phenomenal!"
In 1970, he became the manager of America, the American folk rock band formed in London earlier that year, consisting of Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell, and Dan Peek. He also co-produced their first album, America and got them their first gig. They went on to have number one hits in 1972 including "A Horse with No Name". |