David Essex (born David Albert Cook in 1947) is a musician, singer-songwriter, and actor, well-known in the UK for a string of hit singles in the 70's, starring as Che in the stage production of 'Evita', and latterly appearing as Eddie Moon in 'Eastenders'. In the mid 1960's he joined a band called the Everons as the drummer, and also worked in a factory during that time. He later left the band, became a singer and renamed himself David Essex, and by the mid 60's he was recording with Decca Records, as well as working for other labels. Unfortunately, his first ten singles flopped, and, feeling discouraged, he switched to acting, working in small theatre productions, while earning a living driving trucks and cleaning windows. Things began to progress when he met theatre writer Derek Bowman, who became his manager, and they began working on refining his singing and acting techniques, and also encouraging him to take dance lessons. The hard work paid off and he was cast as Jesus in the original London cast of 'Godspell', with Jeremy Irons as John the Baptist. It was an incredible success and Essex won the Variety Club of Great Britain’s award for Most Promising Newcomer, and in 1971, age 24, Essex was a star of the stage and decided to set his sights on film. Having made his movie debut as an uncredited beatnik in ‘Smashing Time’, he had yet to do some noteworthy film acting, and his big break came with his starring roles in 'That’ll Be The Day' and 'Stardust'. Now wanting to rekindle his singing career, Essex hired producer Jeff Wayne from the US to help him obtain an edge that set him apart from the 1970's teen pop sound, and it worked, with the unconventional 'Rock On' becoming his first hit single in 1973, followed by the equally quirky 'Lamplight' later the same year. That was the beginning of a long and extremely successful career in music, film, TV, and on the stage, and to show that everyone had to start somewhere, this album collects together those early, unsuccessful singles, a brace of unreleased tracks, and a collaboration with Jeff Wayne as the band The Us from 1969. The style back then was predominantly soul/mod, but you can still recognise the distinctive voice, and some of these songs perhaps deserved to have made a dent in the charts of the time.
Track listing
01 And The Tears Came Tumbling Down (single 1965)02 You Can't Stop Me From Loving You (b-side of 'And The Tears Came Tumbling Down')03 Can't Nobody Love You (single 1965)04 Baby I Don't Mind (b-side of 'Can't Nobody Love You')05 Thigh High (single 1966)06 De Boom Lay Boom (b-side of 'Thigh High')07 She's Leaving Home (single 1967)08 He's A Better Man Than Me (b-side of 'She's Leaving Home')09 Love Story (single 1968)10 Just For Tonight (single 1968)11 The Day The Earth Stood Still (single 1969)12 Is It So Strange (b-side of 'The Day The Earth Stood Still')13 That Takes Me Back (single 1969)14 Lost Without Linda (b-side of 'That Takes Me Back')15 So Called Loving (previously unreleased 1969)16 Never Mind, It's Only Love (previously unreleased 1969)17 You're OK With Us (single with Jeff Wayne as 'The Us' 1969)
