Background
The group, originally from Cork, consisted of a four-piece backing band (The Champions) and two lead singers (Gina and Dale Haze). Female lead, Gina (real name, Mary Hurley) took the vocal duties on most of the singles, while male lead Dale Haze (real name Jerdie Mackey) provided lead vocals on many songs and released a solo album in 1982. Members of the backing group were Pat Walshe, Mossey Walshe, Eddie Fitzgerald and Tony Hornibrook.
They featured regularly in the Irish charts - their biggest hits including "Minnie Minnie", "Do You Wanna Do It", "You're the Greatest Lover", "Who Do You Wanna Be", "Give Me Back My Love" and "Playing with Fire". They were voted Top Irish Pop Band in a number of voters polls over the period also. Briefly during 1985, they shortened their name to G, D H and C.
The group remained popular on the cabaret circuit and continued to play with the same line-up. In 1992 the group split due to the shift in popularity of the Irish showband genre and concert bookings began to dry up. Gina was also married to member Pat Walshe and after giving birth to her second child suffered post-natal depression and found it difficult to continue. The group never announced a split however and didn't perform a farewell gig. In October 2009, the original line-up reunited for an Irish tour, performing many of their hits. A night at the Cork Opera House was sold out three months in advance. A compilation album The Best of Gina, Dale Haze and the Champions was released to tie in with this. In 2012 they released a new CD "Baby I Love You and re-mastered a number of their earlier hits to produce 3 new CDs.
Read more about this topic: Gina, Dale Haze And The Champions
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