The “Golden Hits Of The 70s” 

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DAVID ESSEX

 

“ROCK ON”

(DAVID ESSEX)

Columbia 45940

No. 5   March 9, 1974

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His given name was David Albert Cook (b. July 23, 1947), and he grew up in London’s tough East End, the

son of a docker.   “It was the poor part of town,” said Essex in an exclusive interview.   “School I went to

was lousy; a waste of time.   Soccer’s what got my interest.   By 13, though, I knew music was what I wanted

to be involved in.   Joe Morello [a mainstay with DAVE BRUBECK] was my hero, so I wanted to be a jazz

drum­mer.   That didn’t turn out, but I went on to play with some blues bands, like Mood Indigo.   By 15, I

was tour­ing all about.   We were the Everons, cause we were never off.   We tried to be authentic and black;

which means we starved a lot and got thrown out of pubs for being so depressing.”

   

The archetypal blokes with the big cigars and shiny cars pulled the lad aside, said he’d go far, that he’d be

made into a star.   “It sounded like quite a good idea to me,” Essex told Creem’s Richard Cromelin.   “So I

went off with them…. I had nothing, so I thought, ‘Well, they must know what they’re doing.   They’d come

up with a song, and I’d sing it, and it’d come out and not do a thing.”

   

Essex had 10 disks issued prior to his Grammy nomination for “Rock On.”   All were, as he described them,

ill-conceived.   David might not have even had the opportunity to cut his most remembered record were it

not for Daily Express theater columnist Derek Bow­man, his manager.   In the late ’60s, at Derek’s behest,

David began taking voice and dance lessons, and tried out for some parts in plays.   “There I was, off on the

stage.   I didn’t know anything about it.   I’d never seen a play…  It was all a bit of a fluke.”

   

But theater did save his floundering musical career.   He played the lead in The Fantasticks, and in 1971,

he earned rave reviews as Jesus in the London production of Godspell.   The following year, he starred as

rags-to­ riches ’50s rocker Jim MacLaine in the film That’ll Be the Day.   At the request of producer David

Putnam, David wrote “Rock On” for the flick’s freeze-frame ending.

   

“It was a strange record,” said David.   “I wanted to do something different, intriguing; the mid-section

was meant to be like an Indian mantra.   Lyrically, I wanted it to feel like what it was like to be a working

class boy in the U.K. in the ’50s.   Though I wanted it to have a ’70s sound.   Odd though, Putman thought it

was too weird, so it didn’t get to make the film; though it made num­ber one worldwide.”

   

Essex went on to inspire teenybopper hysteria in his homeland.   While only his immediate follow-up­–

“Lamplight” (#71, 1974)–made the listings in the States, 20 further offerings charted in England.   “I had

no idea ‘Rock On’ would be a hit,” said Essex.   “Even more, I’ve had 25 Top 30 things in Great Britain, and

it hasn’t stopped….”

   

David Essex continued his stage and film work.   He appeared with Ringo, Dave Edmunds, and EDD

BYRNES in Stardust (1975), and in the late ’70s, played Che Gue­vara in the London production of Evita.   

He starred with Beau Bridges in Silver Dream Racer (1980), and in 1987, he portrayed Fletcher Christian

in his own stage project, Mutiny.   In 1988, he wrote the theme for the TV sitcom “The River”; which he

starred in.   Next Dave played the part of an evil Spanish Duke in Shogun Mayeda (1990) with Christopher

Lee.   In the early ’90s, Essex was appointed “ambassador” for the charitable organization Voluntary

Service Overseas.

   

“It woulda been nice to have been successful in America,” said Essex.   “I don’t know why, but I’ve never

worked in America…”

   

Essex rewrote and re-recorded “Rock On” in the early ’90s.   It’s release and that of such charmers as

“Missing You,” “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore,” and his last 13 albums have not been made

available in the United States.

   

“It is upsetting, that as an artist–I take things seri­ously–and people in certain parts of the world don’t get

the chance to buy or even to hear my new things.   A lot of the world, I’d imagine, don’t even know I’m still

creating.”

   

Michael Damian, star of TV’s “The Young and the Restless,” returned “Rock On” to the Billboard charts in

1989; outselling Essex’s original and peaking in the number-one position.   Damian’s take was included in

Piper Laurie’s Dream a Little Dream (1989).