Archive of Raye Du-Val, drummer in The Checkmates, and other groups

AMS6605

Archive of Raye Du-Val, drummer in The Checkmates, and other groups

1930s-2000

English

3 Series

Documents are closed to public inspection for 30 years from the last date of a document

Deposited 17 May 2001 (ACC 8348)

The archive consists largely of albums containing newscuttings, photographs, photocopies and ephemera concerning the career of Raymonde (Raye) Du-Val, who was born 7 August 1932 in Soho, London. His career in music started in 1954, playing Rock and Roll music in Paris and Soho clubs. He formed the Rock 'n' Roll Preservation Society in Soho in 1959. Raye also played various other kinds of music during his career, including jazz, dixieland, Latin, country and western, and ballad

Raye is best known as drummer for Emile Ford and The Checkmates, and earned a gold disc in 1959 for What do you want to make those eyes at me for? The group also had hits with Slow Boat to China and Them there eyes. The Beatles played as their support group before they were famous. Raye also played for Ricky Valance, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene Vincent, Johnny Duncan and the Bluegrass Boys, and Jimmy Justice. He backed singers such as Frank Ifield, and did sessions work with Millie on My Boy Lollipop and Johnny Kidd and the Pirates on Shakin' All Over

Raye appeared on television programmes such as Oh Boy and Six Five Special, and Sunday Night at the London Palladium. He held the title of Triple Winner of the World's Non Stop Drumming Marathon Record Contest, verified by the Guinness Book of Records, and the National Jazz Federation. The championships are recorded in the Guinness Book of Records, 1959-1969

The bandleader Syd Dean used to play at The Regent, Queen's Road, Brighton, and was transferred to the Top Rank Suite, Brighton by the Rank Organisation when it was built c1965 (The Regent was subsequently demolished in 1973). Raye joined Syd Dean in 1967; he also ran his own group, the Ray Duval 4. He was involved with several other groups, including the Jean-Paul Trio in 1970s. From 1971 he ran The Rockmates from 1971, which broke up in 1976, but reformed in 1981 as a Rock 'n' Roll trio. After it was again disbanded in 1989, Raye reformed The Checkmates, having been given permission to do so by Emile Ford. He also formed The Legend, a nostalgic combo playing early Rock 'n' Roll, country and western, and American trucking music, in around 1977

Raye worked for Norris Brothers Ltd of Haywards Heath, the designers of Donald Campbell's Bluebird; he left the company in January 1994. Much of his musical career took place in the Brighton area. He lived at 54 Elm Grove, West Worthing, in the 1960s; 42 Daniels Close, Lancing, from around 1967; 2 Street House, The Street, Bolney, in the 1970s, and now (2002) lives in Haywards Heath