Diamond Dez (By Ian Erving)
A lot of people often ask me who or what is Diamond Dez? Is it a place? Is it an item of clothing? Is it a shop?
There are many answers but actually Diamond Dez is a person and sometimes known as Derek Reed; a name he apparently wears in the daytime but I don’t know much about that guy.
My first encounter on hearing this Diamon Dez fellow must have been about 1987 in a place called Bowlers (now known as The George). Dez was playing on a “Band Box” and the song he sang that night was The Beatles number “Ticket To Ride”. It’s rumoured that Dez played in a punk band with cigarette dangling from his mouth and Fender Bullet set to kill….stiff little fingers indeed!
Getting to know Dez throughout the years it has become clear that he is a very popular individual. Dez is the only person I know who can go out for a pint by himself and, by the end of the night, have a whole consortium of people around him. When the idea came up about forming The Beer Pigs Diamond Dez was an instant choice. Not because of his guitar playing or singing, average ….did I say average..I mean fantastic as they may be. It is because the rotten b*****d bribed us.
He bought us all drinks that night, got us really pissed, told us he knew loads of songs and that he was a proper pop idol. As it turned out he is just he is just proper idle and he only knew Ticket To Ride but, to be fair, he can actually sing in several different languages which is very impressive after a gallon of beer.
To be serious though, Dez has become a musician to respect and will certainly stamp his ground on any music the band perform. And, to throw it in, he is a big favourite with the young ladies so there is no way this lad can lose.
