- Person's Name:
Chris Duffy
- Fame as?:
Singer / Songwriter
- Fame Hilite:
Co-founder of Waterfront, whose 1989 single "Cry" made them the first Welsh duo to reach the US top ten.
- Birth info:
Born and raised in Cardiff, Wales.
- Body Text 2:
"Cry" was recognised at BMI's 50th Anniversary Celebrations in Los Angeles as one of the most-played singles on US radio, and Waterfront were named BMI Songwriters of the Year in 1990. Duffy released a solo record on Polydor in 1992 before reuniting with Cilia in 2000, and the pair have continued releasing new material as Waterfront in the decades since, including the 2011 album Ghosts of the Good.
- Career Highlights:
- Career Highlight:
Waterfront's "Cry" reached No. 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1989
- Career Highlight:
Named BMI Songwriter of the Year, 1990
- Career Highlight:
Released solo album All the Time in the World on Polydor, 1992
- Connection:
Grew up in Cardiff, playing in local band The Official Secrets before co-founding Waterfront there with Phil Cilia.
- Related Material:
- Location String:
Cardiff
- Connection Place Map:
51.4816,-3.1791
Christopher James Duffy grew up in Cardiff and cut his teeth in the local band The Official Secrets before teaming up with fellow Cardiff musician Phil Cilia to form the pop duo Waterfront in the 1980s. The pair were signed directly to EMI/SBK by Charles Kopelman and Marty Bandier, and later to Polydor Records, launching a career that would take them onto the American charts.
Waterfront's biggest success came with the 1989 single "Cry", which reached No. 17 in the UK and No. 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100, making...
Christopher Grant
Won first prize in the Urdd Genedlaethol.
Clive Branson
World Angling Champion 1987, World Angling Championship runner up (silver medal) 1986, Captain Welsh Angling Championship Team 1989
Clive Sullivan
Clive Sullivan played rugby league for Hull K. R. and Hull F. C, he also played for Great Britain and was the first black captain for Great Britain. Clive passed away in 1985 aged just 42 from cancer.
Colin Jackson
Record holder 110m hurdles.
- Person's Name:
Colin McCormack
- Fame as?:
Actor from Penarth, Cardiff
- Fame Hilite:
Penarth-born actor with a long association with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
- Birth info:
Born 2 December 1941, Penarth, Glamorgan
- Body Text 2:
As well as his own acting career, McCormack taught at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where his students went on to include Ewan McGregor, Daniel Craig and Damian Lewis.
- Career Highlights:
- Career Highlight:
Long association with the Royal Shakespeare Company, 1967-2004
- Career Highlight:
Played Alan in the science-fiction series Chocky (1984)
- Career Highlight:
Played Kevin Masters in EastEnders
- Connection:
Born in Penarth, near Cardiff, and educated at Penarth Grammar School.
- Related Material:
- Location String:
Penarth, Cardiff, Wales
- Connection Place Map:
51.4362,-3.1725
Colin McCormack was born on 2 December 1941 in Penarth, near Cardiff, Glamorgan, the eldest son of a railway worker. He was educated at Kings College junior school in Cardiff and at Penarth Grammar School, before studying at Cardiff Art College and then training at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.
From 1967 to 2004, McCormack was closely associated with the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in productions ranging from a 1967 staging of 'Macbeth' to Edward Hall's 'Julius Caesar'. Beyond the RSC, he...
Dannie Abse
Author of numerous books of poetry, novels and plays.
Danny Wilson
Danny successfully played rugby league 'up north'.
- Person's Name:
Dave Edmunds
- Fame as?:
Singer, guitarist and record producer
- Fame Hilite:
Scored a six-week UK Number One with "I Hear You Knocking" in 1970 and became a leading figure of British rock 'n' roll revivalism.
- Birth info:
Born 15 April 1944 in Cardiff, Wales.
- Body Text 2:
After Love Sculpture, Edmunds built one of the most respected production careers in British rock, working behind the desk for the Stray Cats, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Status Quo and the Everly Brothers among many others, and later co-founding the band Rockpile with fellow musician Nick Lowe.
- Career Highlights:
- Career Highlight:
UK Number One single, "I Hear You Knocking", 1970
- Career Highlight:
Formed Love Sculpture, best known for the hit "Sabre Dance", 1968
- Career Highlight:
Debut solo album Rockpile released, 1972
- Connection:
Born and raised in Cardiff
- Related Material:
- Location String:
Cardiff
- Connection Place Map:
51.4816,-3.1791
David William Edmunds was born on 15 April 1944 in Cardiff, Wales, and grew up steeped in music, forming a rock 'n' roll piano duo with his older brother Geoff as a boy. He cut his teeth in Cardiff bands through the 1960s, most notably the blues-rock trio Love Sculpture, whose frantic instrumental take on Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance" became an unlikely UK hit in 1968 and showcased Edmunds's already formidable guitar technique.
As a solo artist Edmunds became one of the defining figures of British rock 'n' roll...
- Person's Name:
David Baird
- Fame as?:
Actor, Composer, Theatre Director and Author
- Fame Hilite:
Composer, theatre director and author who built his early theatre career in Cardiff, co-founding the Cardiff Laboratory Theatre and working for the Welsh National Opera and Drama Company.
- Birth info:
David was born in 1956, in Canada.
- Body Text 2:
Baird's career has taken him from the Welsh theatre scene in Cardiff, where he helped found the Cardiff Laboratory Theatre, to Artistic Director roles at Doppelganger Theatre in the UK and Handspan Theatre in Melbourne, Australia. He later became known internationally as an author, with his 'A Thousand Paths' series of illustrated inspirational books reaching a wide readership, while continuing his work in music and theatre as Musical Director for MakeBelieve Arts.
- Career Highlights:
- Career Highlight:
On the production staff of Welsh National Opera and Drama Company
- Career Highlight:
Co-founder and director of the Cardiff Laboratory Theatre
- Career Highlight:
Artistic Director of Doppelganger Theatre and Handspan Theatre, Melbourne
- Career Highlight:
Musical Director with MakeBelieve Arts
- Career Highlight:
Author of the best-selling 'A Thousand Paths' book series (from 2000) and 'Shakespeare at the Globe' (1998)
- Connection:
Co-founder/director of the Cardiff Laboratory Theatre and staffed the Welsh National Opera and Drama Company
- Related Material:
- Location String:
Cardiff, Wales
- Connection Place Map:
51.4816,-3.1791
David Baird is a composer, theatre director and author, born in 1956 in Canada. He was not born in Wales, but built a significant part of his early career there: he worked on the production staff of the Welsh National Opera and Drama Company, and was a co-founder and director of the Cardiff Laboratory Theatre.
He went on to become Artistic Director of Doppelganger Theatre and of Handspan Theatre in Melbourne, Australia, and later served as Musical Director with MakeBelieve Arts on touring family shows including 'The...
David Evans
Writing modern history books.
David Giles
Football Player (Soccer). Played for Cardiff, Wrexham, Crystal Palace and others.
David Jacobs
At the 1912 Stockholm summer Olympics, he won a gold medal as the first leg of in the 4x100m British team.
David Mysterious
Troubador of the unknown ep- available on the Peski label.
Diana Jones
The Chrestomanci series and the novels howl's moving castle and dark lord of derkholm.
- Person's Name:
Donna Edwards
- Fame as?:
Actress from Merthyr Tydfil
- Fame Hilite:
Twice BAFTA Cymru-winning actress best known as Britt Monk in Pobol y Cwm and for Belonging, Gavin & Stacey and Stella.
- Birth info:
Born 1963 in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.
- Body Text 2:
Edwards has won the BAFTA Cymru Best Actress award twice, for her roles in Tair Chwaer and Belonging. Two of her daughters have also acted, appearing in Young Dracula and The Story of Tracy Beaker.
- Career Highlights:
- Career Highlight:
Won the BAFTA Cymru Best Actress award twice, for Tair Chwaer and Belonging
- Career Highlight:
Played Britt Monk in the S4C soap opera Pobol y Cwm
- Career Highlight:
Played 'Mo the Bap' in the Sky1 comedy series Stella
- Connection:
Born in Merthyr Tydfil and raised in Trefechan
- Related Material:
- Location String:
Merthyr Tydfil, Cardiff, Wales
- Connection Place Map:
51.7479,-3.3789
Donna Edwards was born in 1963 in Merthyr Tydfil and raised in the nearby village of Trefechan. She attended Vaynor and Penderyn High School, where she developed an early interest in drama, and at 14 landed her first television role playing the lead, Myfanwy Llewellyn, in the 1978 BBC Wales drama Off to Philadelphia in the Morning. She went on to study Welsh and Drama at Aberystwyth University, graduating in 1984.
Edwards has built her career largely around Welsh-language and Wales-set television drama, playing Miriam...
Donna Lewis
Singer and songwriter, Classically trained at the Welsh College of Music and Drama. Relatively unknown in the UK, she has been very successful in the US. Her 1996 song 'I Love You Always Forever' was a world wide success, gaining the number 1 position in many countries. In the USA the song re-wrote the record books at radio, by exceeding one million 'spins', claiming its place in music industry history as the most-played single ever, at the time.
Downtown Brown
MTV host and numerous other presenting roles, as well as some movies.
Driscoll Peerless Jim
'Peerless' Jim was the first ever boxer to win the 'Londsdale Belt' outright, having successfully defended his world featherweight title three times in a row.
Ernest Willows
Pioneering aviator. In 1910 became the first person to cross the English channel in airship.
