On July 4th 1954, the day Elvis Presley was rehearsing for his ground-breaking session at Sun Studios in Memphis, Julian Dawson came into the world in England. He grew up as one of seven brothers in London and then in Kent. Nine misspent years at two Catholic boarding schools ended when he was expelled the day before his 17th. birthday. After a year spent working at various jobs he went on to study Fine Art and Printmaking at Exeter Art College. 

With solo performances and an increasingly popular "Art-School Band", Julian soon realised that singing suited him much better than painting  - this was confirmed when a professional band with work in the U.S. Army bases in Germany asked him to join them. With the example of the Beatles in Hamburg firmly in mind, he left England overnight to start rehearsals in Frankfurt, however it soon became clear that the army circuit offered no scope for original material, so Julian left to see what the rest of Germany had to offer.

After a move back to England, the next few years saw a lengthy period of gigging anywhere and everywhere with his various band line-ups. After a self-released tape came the first, overdue (independent) record release. Realising that the energy he was spending on keeping a Transit van alive would be better spent making better recordings, Julian began working at the Can Studio near Cologne on tracks which became "The Flood" project with Rosko Gee (Traffic) and Jaki Liebezeit (from Can). An early 12" on Rough Trade was followed by two highly-acclaimed albums on Polydor  - As Real As Disneyland and Luckiest Man In The Western World, with studio guests like Richard Thompson, PP Arnold and Toots Thielemans. Excellent reviews internationally and "album of the month" status in Germany added to the growing interest in Europe.