By Jim Rowland
Long term Über readers may recall reviews we have run in the past of books such as ‘Dear Mr. Kershaw’, ‘Dear Mr. Pop Star’ and ‘Grammar Free In The UK’ by a certain OAP Mr. D. Philpott, compiling hundreds of letters, with replies, sent to various rock, punk and pop musicians, chastising them for lyrical misdemeanours. Those books have proved very popular, but now, with ‘Pop Idle – 30 Years On The Road As A Professional Singer’, the man behind the facade of D. Philpott finally comes out of the closet to reveal his real identity, and his real life, in another highly entertaining read. His name is Dave Dawson, and he has spent 30 years of that life as a professional singer ‘on the bottom rung of the showbiz ladder’.
This isn’t as such a biography, but it is the tale of the author’s life within music, dating back pretty much 40 years. From school day and teenage bands and that youthful quest for rock stardom in original bands, through the discovery of his ‘niche’, and onto the development of that niche into a fully-fledged professional career in pubs, clubs, social clubs, care homes, theatres and a few places in between, ‘Pop Idle – 30 Years On The Road As A Professional Singer’ provides a fascinating insight into the life of a singer, by his own admission, ‘on the bottom rung of the showbiz ladder’, literally singing for his supper. It is also, perhaps not surprisingly given the history of the Philpott books, often extremely witty and very funny.
The book is packed full of countless tales of unscrupulous agents, promotors, landlords and bar staff, great successes and appreciative audiences, downright disasters and unappreciative audiences, threats of violence and verbal abuse (complete with finely honed retorts), gangsters, criminals, strippers – and even stalkers.
Some of the tales told are downright laugh-out-loud funny. I’m not going to re-tell any of those tales in a review, as it’s up to you to discover them if you choose to purchase and read this book, which I would highly recommend. All I would say is look out for the posh golf club incident, which got me chuckling out loud, and believe me that’s no easy task. There’s loads more similarly hilarious scrapes the author finds himself in like that.
Aside from the funny stuff, there is a serious side too. We all know, or at least have seen, entertainers such as this guy, but this book provides a sort of ‘back stage access’ to the less glamorous aspects of this profession. There is also a section towards the end concerning Dawson’s move into entertaining the elderly residents of care homes, a truly admirable vocation, that he found after years in the biz ended up revitalizing him, and this part of the book is particularly touching.
The book is written with a humble point of view, and there’s plenty of self-deprecating humour in it, but well written it is. As I found recently when I reviewed Barrett Martin’s excellent account of his time with The Screaming Trees, you don’t have to be familiar with the artist or their work to find their story compelling. Such is the case here. Highly recommended.
- ‘Pop Idle‘ is out now.
facebook.com/davedawsonentertainer
- All content © Über Rock. Not to be reproduced in part or in whole without the express written permission of Über Rock.