THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

611-David Essex-Hold Me Close.

1975-Number 1 single.

Best Bit-At 3.10. David Essex wasn’t just a pretty face, as far as teen idols go, he was probably the most talented.

David Essex was born David Albert Cook, on July 23rd, 1947, in Plaistow, Essex, England, which probably provides the clue as to where he took his stage name from. He is a singer, songwriter, and actor. His father Albert, worked on the docks in the East End of London, and his mother Olive, was a self-taught pianist, and an Irish Traveller. Just after his birth his father had to enter hospital due to bronchitis, leaving the family destitute, and he had to move with his mother into a ‘workhouse,’ and then later on into temporary housing. David Essex first became interested in music in his teens, playing drums in a local band called ‘China Plates,’ before becoming a singer. Prior to his breakthrough hit single in 1973, he had recorded 11 singles between 1965-1971, all of which had failed to make any impact on the charts. His first notable acting role, was the lead in the stage musical ‘Godspell,’ in 1971, at the age of 23. His major film breakthrough occurred in 1973, when he starred in the film ‘That’ll Be the Day,’ and wrote the song ‘Rock On,’ which played at the end of the film, and gave him his first hit single (UK-Number 3 & Billboard Number 5.) David Essex went on to appear in many more films, and also had roles in television series, including ‘Heartbeat,’ and ‘Eastenders.’ In the 1999 ‘New Years Honours,’ he was appointed an ‘Officer of the Order of the British Empire’ (OBE) ‘for charitable services, especially to Voluntary Service Overseas.’

The discography of David Essex includes 26 studio Albums released between 1973-2013, and 68 singles released between 1965-2013, there are also 19 official compilation Albums, and five live Albums available. In the UK, 19 of his singles have reached the top 40, with both ‘Gonna Make You a Star,’ (1974) and ‘Hold Me Close,’ (1975) both making the Number 1 position. In America on the Billboard Hot 100, only ‘Rock On,’ from 1973, has reached the top 40, when peaking at Number 5. In 1989 the American actor and singer Michael Damian did a cover version of ‘Rock On,’ which reached Number 1 on Billboard, and also topped the chart in Canada as well.

‘Hold Me Close’ was the second of three singles released by David Essex from his third studio Album ‘All the Fun of the Fair,’ from 1975, the song was written by David Essex, with the production being by Jeff Wayne, who was born on July 1st, 1943, in New York City, United States. Jeff Wayne will always be best remembered for his 1978 Album ‘Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds,’ which is an ‘Album Musical’ adapted from the science-fiction novel ‘The War of the Worlds,’ (1898) by H. G. Wells, (1866-1946) in a ‘Rock Opera’ style with a Rock band, orchestra, and narrator. The Album features guest artists including, Justin Hayward, and Phil Lynott, (1949-1986) with the actor Richard Burton, (1925-1984) providing narration. David Essex provides lead vocals on two of the Albums 13 tracks. The Album is currently one of the 40 best selling Albums of all time in the UK, with sales in excess of 2.7 million, while worldwide it’s sales are in excess of 15 million copies. Jeff Wayne has written music for many films, and television programmes, and it is said that he has also written around 3,000 advertising jingles.

‘Hold Me Close’ is a commercial happy go lucky love song, and was released as the follow up single to the far more serious ‘Rolling Stone,’ (UK-Number 5.) David Essex has said,’It’s just a good-time song. ‘Rolling Stone’ stretched the market, and credibility started to sneak in with the music papers. So instead of coming out with something heavy that would have made me ‘solid, man,’ I thought it would be nice to come out with something journalists would really hate – and they did hate it.’

‘And if that road gets tougher, oh I love you. No I’ll let ya suffer, ’cause I love the things that you do. So hold me close, don’t let me go oh no, you and me, yes our love it will grow and grow, do you know. With your love light shining, every cloud has a silver lining, so hold me close, hold me close, hold me close, don’t let me go.’