Career
He is most famous for singing and writing songs for the 1980s 2-Tone band The Beat (known in the United States as the English Beat) and also General Public. The first album by The Beat, I Just Can"t Stop lieutenant, was a hit and singles from this album included "Mirror in the Bathroom", "Hands Office She"s Mine" and "Can"t Get Used To Losing You" which all entered the Top 10 in the United Kingdom Singles Chart. They also had United Kingdom hits from the albums Wha"ppen? and Special Beat Service.
In 1983 The Beat disbanded, citing, "every great band only has three really good albums".
Wakeling then formed General Public with Ranking Roger in 1984 and they released their debut album, All the Rage. He would go on to record another two albums with General Public, Hand To Mouth (1986) and Rub lieutenant Better (1995), shortly after which the act would disband.
He then produced the soundtrack for the John Hughes film (1988), in which he also recorded the title track. Wakeling released a solo album,, on I.R.S. Records in 1991 and has lived in California for a number of years.
He regularly performs as The English Beat in North America.
Dave Wakeling and his California-based version of the English Beat band recorded two new songs that feature prominently in the Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated episode "Dance of the Undead" which aired 26 March 2013. lieutenant features a zombie ska group called Rude Boy and the Ska-Tastics who come back to life in order to turn people into zombies and make them dance to ska music forever. According to an interview with the San Francisco Examiner, he said: "This was my first opportunity to do anything for television as a gun for hire, and I actually managed to record and mix two songs in 12 hours.
lieutenant was like running at double speed with no brakes, but it was exciting, and Warner Brothers really loved them.
So the zombies have a song called "You’re Dead Right, Mate,’ and the Hex Girls have one called "We’re the Good Bad Girls,’ which has a definite Ramones-Runaways vibe to it, but frankly, I’m really happy I did it, because I’ve always loved ‘Scooby-Doo.".
