Clowning Around Trivia Quiz

Answer: True

In the early 1960s David Essex made his living working in a factory. He supplemented this by playing drums for a band called the Everons. Feeling that he had a better chance of success as a singer he left the band and was signed to Decca Records. Between 1965 and 1971 he managed to release eleven singles, everyone of them failing to chart. By now he was married and had a child on the way. Feeling the pressures of a growing family and his lack of success in the music industry, he turned away from it and made an attempt at acting.

While he won roles in a number of small productions it wasn't enough to keep food on the table so, in between these, he was driving trucks and cleaning windows to make a living.

Answer: Godspell

Essex met Bowman, a writer, through his work in the theatre. Bowman saw the potential in David and took him under his wing as manager and, quickly won him the shot at playing Jesus. That role, in "Godspell", would prove to be the door-breaking event for Essex, which would ultimately lead him to greater success.

His performance earned him the Variety Club of Great Britain's award for "Most Promising Newcomer" and, at age twenty four, he was set to be a star of the stage.

Answer: That'll Be the Day

This was not David's first film, he'd previously had small roles in "Smashing Time" (1967), "Assault" (1971) and "All Coppers Are..." (1972). It was however, his first starring role. Set in a holiday camp in the 1960s, the film also contained a number of other notable music luminaries in Ringo Starr, Keith Moon and Billy Fury.

It would become a massive hit in the United Kingdom and, thanks to a famous Essex penned song, a cult classic in the United States.

Answer: Rock On

"Rock On" was written by Essex and used in David Puttnam's 1973 film "That'll Be the Day". The song's style harks back to the sounds of music in pre-Beatles' England. It is dark, it is brooding and it motored up the Singles charts in the UK to number three, and peaked at number five on Billboard's Hot 100 in the US. Remarkably, his would be the only time that Essex would chart in the Top Forty, in the United States but the song was strong enough to earn him a Grammy nomination and, on the back of this, he able to find some market for his music in subsequent years.

However, overnight, in his home country, Essex had become a pop sensation and his presence, wherever he went, was met with hysteria. Taking advantage of this, a sequel to the film ("That'll Be the Day") was put together called "Stardust" (1975), though, on this occasion, with Michael Apted at the helm.

Answer: Gonna Make You a Star

The "David Essex" album (1974) was the singer's second and it was released less than a year after the extraordinary success of "Rock On", his first. The cynics would argue that he was rushing this release so that it could ride on the coat-tails of the first album. This is, however, was instantly dismissed as the release showed both maturity and adventure in its writing, which significantly shifted it away from the sounds of "Rock On". The single, and opening track to the album, "Gonna Make You a Star" is immediate evidence of this as Essex produces a buoyant hook to drive the song and then couples this with a set of bitter lyrics that expand on the life of a young singer caught up in the star making machine;
"Is he more than a pretty face?
I don't think so"

One wonders if this was David's way of stating that he intended to be much more than a one hit wonder.

Answer: Hold Me Close

"All the Fun of the Fair" borders on being a concept album by Essex and the fact that he chose a carnival as the theme does not surprise. In his 2002 autobiography, "A Charmed Life", he points out that he'd always been drawn to carnivals and how they were able to juxtapose a hidden violence with their inherent ability to entertain. The album is quirky and it is blessed with a certain fearlessness, making it, arguably, David's most adventurous musical journey in the 1970s.

The single, "Hold Me Close", is Essex's most enduring recording. He produces a strong cockney wail that adds charm and cheekiness to the lyrics and a chorus that is effortless to sing along to. Essex would make a startling revelation about the song some thirty years later when he revealed that the song only came together in the final hours of the final day of recording. With the label's directors sitting patiently in their reception area waiting to hear the finished product Essex, in his own words, belted it out in "Two vocal takes, a quick half an hour mix, and bosh! It turned out to be one of my biggest records."

Answer: War of the Worlds

Eighty years after the publication of Wells' famed story, Jeff Wayne had decided to add another dimension to the novel by setting it to music. It was a brave move that produced a best selling album. Despite being a double LP, in 2009, it was ranked as the fortieth best selling album ever, in the UK. It has since gone on to provide Wayne with an avenue to live tours, video games and DVDs.

For Essex, who provides the voice for the Artillery Man and sings the song "Brave New World", it was the perfect vehicle with which to combine his talents for acting and singing. It was also good timing as his recording career was starting to slow. That's not to say that his output was poor, on the contrary, he continued to be adventurous and introduce new influences, such as reggae, into his sound. Rather, it was that his once young audience was now aging a little and preferred to stay with his "safer tunes" while the new generation coming through were attracted to the emergence of the punk rock revolution and found it difficult to reconcile the emerging new wave sounds with David's stylings.

Answer: Evita

Despite his recording career slowing down, David Essex was still able to close out the 1970s with style, performing as Guevara in the original production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical "Evita". "Oh, What a Circus", which shares the same tune as "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" (a contrafactum), sees Guevara (Essex) comparing the life of Evita Peron with the titular circus. Essex released the song as a single in 1978 and it was a commercial success, peaking on the UK Singles charts at number three.

Answer: Mutiny

Based on the novel "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1932) by Charles Nordhoff, the play deals with the cruel command of Captain Bligh on board the ship HMS Bounty. Fletcher Christian is one of eighteen men who have been lured by the idyllic lifestyle they'd witnessed on the island of Tahiti and stage a mutiny.

By the 1980s David Essex had decided to concentrate his efforts on his theatre work with the occasional film thrown in. He was now an established star of the stage and he had enough presence and drawing power to hold a show on his own. Though infrequent, it still gave him the opportunity to record music and two singles were released from the body of this play. One of them, "Tahiti", was a surprise hit, peaking at number eight on the UK Singles charts.

Answer: All the Fun of the Fair

And so we complete the circle for David Essex, which started with his fascination for amusement parks and carnivals as a young teen and is embodied within this play. "All the Fun of the Fair", which made it to the West End in London (2010) tells the story of Levi Lee (Essex), recently widowed and with his hands full with a rebellious teenage son. He meets a gypsy fortune teller who, is in love with him and, tells him that there is danger and mysticism in his near future.

A jukebox musical is one that features previously released popular songs of an artist. The show (and album) open with David's "A Winter Tale", a number two UK hit for him in 1982 and also includes the infectious "Hold Me Close" and "Gonna Make You a Star".