David Essex

David Essex plays Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre on 8 September 2026, bringing the blend of storytelling pop and lean rock that shaped his path from London stages to the charts. Born in Plaistow and raised in Canning Town, he started out on drums before stepping forward with Godspell and the film That’ll Be the Day. Rock On in 1973 set the tone: a bass-led groove and that conversational voice, somewhere between glam swagger and British pop instinct. Across albums like Rock On, David Essex, All the Fun of the Fair, Out on the Street and Imperial Wizard, his writing moved toward a more melodic pop rock without losing its narrative pull.

Parallel to the records, his theatre life took off: Tommy, Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds, then creating Che in Evita. On stage, he draws from a catalogue that connects radio hits and musical roles, stretching from the early seventies to later releases such as Be-Bop the Future and Cover Shot, with a nod to his collaboration with Saint Etienne on Tales from Turnpike House. Songs that chart decades of British pop, revisited by a voice that knows how to tell a story.