Freddie Garrity

 Freddie Garrity (November 14, 1936 – May 19, 2006)

He was the frontman and comical element in the 1960s pop band, Freddie and the Dreamers. Garrity’s trademark was his habit of leaping up and down during performances, and inspired the song "Do The Freddie". This, combined with his almost skeletal appearance and horn-rimmed glasses, made him an eccentric figure in the UK pop scene of the early 1960s. The group has other hits like "I'm Telling You Now" and "You Were Made For Me", which topped the charts in the 1960s. Freddie and the Dreamers disbanded in the late 1960s and, between 1971 and 1973, Garrity and his former bandmate Peter Birrell appeared in the ITV children’s television show Little Big Time. Garrity made a solo appearance on the first episode of the Granada Television production The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club singing "Try a Little Kindness" and "Good Morning Starshine". After his television career ended, Garrity formed a new version of Freddie and the Dreamers and toured regularly for the next two decades, but no further records or chart success came their way.

He continued to perform until 2001, when he was diagnosed with emphysema after collapsing during a flight, thus forcing him into retirement. Garrity died at age 69 from emphysema, and was cremated. While the group was active, he listed his birth year as 1940 to appear younger, but he was actually born four years earlier.