David McWilliams (Irish musician)
Encyclopedia
David McWilliams was a Northern Irish
singer
, songwriter
, and guitarist
, best known for his 1967 song "Days of Pearly Spencer".
area of Belfast
and moved to Ballymena
at the age of three. He began playing guitar and writing songs in his early teens. After leaving Ballymena Technical College in 1963, he started an apprenticeship at the Shorts missile factory in Antrim
, and also started a local dance band, the Coral Showband. He was a well-respected football player, and had a trial with Linfield
as a goalkeeper.
He recorded a demo
of some of his own songs, which was heard by music industry entrepreneur Phil Solomon, who had previously managed The Bachelors
and Van Morrison
's band Them
and also had close business ties with Ronan O'Rahilly
's pirate radio
station Radio Caroline
. Solomon won McWilliams a contract with CBS Records
, which released his first unsuccessful single "God and My Country" in 1966, before signing McWilliams to his own new Major Minor
label. McWilliams' first album, David McWilliams Singing Songs by David McWilliams, was produced and arranged by Mike Leander
, and reached # 38 on the UK album chart. He quickly recorded a second album, David McWilliams, which reached # 23 in the album chart and featured the single "Days of Pearly Spencer". This was a song about a homeless man McWilliams had encountered in Ballymena, and featured a sweeping orchestral arrangement by Leander and a vocal refrain apparently sung through a megaphone
. Massive exposure on Radio Caroline
and through advertisements in the UK music press in the summer of 1967 helped generate interest and sales in continental Europe
, and the record topped the charts in numerous countries including France
and the Netherlands
, selling a million copies worldwide. However, although it became well known in the UK, "Days of Pearly Spencer" failed to make the charts there, perhaps because the BBC
refused to play it owing to Solomon's links with pirate radio, and through mismanagement McWilliams never profited from the song's success. In Italy
, the song was covered
in 1968 by Caterina Caselli
as "Il Volto Della Vita". Successful later versions of the song included a disco
version which reached # 1 in Belgium
in the 1980s, and a cover version
in 1988 by the French
psychedelic
band The Vietnam Veterans and their album The Days of Pearly Spencer. A recording by Marc Almond
, with an additional verse written by Almond giving the song a more optimistic tone, reached # 4 in the UK charts in 1992.
He released another album, David McWillams III, and several further singles for Major Minor, and toured widely in Europe, on some occasions with The Dubliners
and the Kerries. His 1968 song, "Can I Get There By Candlelight?" was used for the theme
of a Dutch radio
programme, Candlelight with Jan van Veen. He became very popular in Germany
and Italy, as well as in France and Holland, and re-recorded some songs in Italian
. Reportedly, David Bowie
once named McWilliams as his favourite songwriter. An album, Days Of Pearly Spencer, comprising tracks from his three albums, was issued by Kapp Records
in the USA in 1968. He moved to London
, and released further albums and singles on the Parlophone and Dawn
labels in the 1970s, but these were unsuccessful.
McWilliams moved back to Northern Ireland in 1978. He performed infrequently after that, mostly in local bars, although he also headlined a concert in aid of striking miners
in 1984 and occasionally appeared at the Ballycastle
Northern Lights Festival. A compilation album
, The Days of David McWilliams, was issued by RPM Records in 2001.
McWilliams died of a heart attack
at his home in Ballycastle, County Antrim
in 2002, at the age of 56. He was married twice and had eight children.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
singer
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, and guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, best known for his 1967 song "Days of Pearly Spencer".
Life
McWilliams was born in the CregaghCregagh
Cregagh is an area southeast of Belfast in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is the name of a townland and has been adopted as the name of an electoral ward of the Borough of Castlereagh. The area is centred on the Cregagh Road. The Woodstock/Cregagh Road is a continuous arterial route in the...
area of Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
and moved to Ballymena
Ballymena
Ballymena is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland and the seat of Ballymena Borough Council. Ballymena had a population of 28,717 people in the 2001 Census....
at the age of three. He began playing guitar and writing songs in his early teens. After leaving Ballymena Technical College in 1963, he started an apprenticeship at the Shorts missile factory in Antrim
Antrim, County Antrim
Antrim is a town in County Antrim in the northeast of Northern Ireland, on the banks of the Six Mile Water, half a mile north-east of Lough Neagh. It had a population of 20,001 people in the 2001 Census. The town is the administrative centre of Antrim Borough Council...
, and also started a local dance band, the Coral Showband. He was a well-respected football player, and had a trial with Linfield
Linfield F.C.
Linfield F.C. , is a semi-professional, Northern Irish football club, whose home ground is Windsor Park in Belfast, which is also the home of the Northern Ireland international team....
as a goalkeeper.
He recorded a demo
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
of some of his own songs, which was heard by music industry entrepreneur Phil Solomon, who had previously managed The Bachelors
The Bachelors
The Bachelors are a popular music group, originating from Dublin, Ireland.-Career:The founding members of the group were Conleth Cluskey , Declan Cluskey , and John Stokes...
and Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
's band Them
Them (band)
Them were a Northern Irish band formed in Belfast in April 1964, most prominently known for the garage rock standard "Gloria" and launching singer Van Morrison's musical career...
and also had close business ties with Ronan O'Rahilly
Ronan O'Rahilly
Ronan O'Rahilly is an Irish businessman best known for the creation of the offshore radio station, Radio Caroline.O'Rahilly's parents owned the private port of Greenore in Carlingford Lough, County Louth...
's pirate radio
Pirate radio
Pirate radio is illegal or unregulated radio transmission. The term is most commonly used to describe illegal broadcasting for entertainment or political purposes, but is also sometimes used for illegal two-way radio operation...
station Radio Caroline
Radio Caroline
Radio Caroline is an English radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly...
. Solomon won McWilliams a contract with CBS Records
CBS Records
CBS Records is a record label founded by CBS Corporation in 2006 to take advantage of music from its entertainment properties owned by CBS Television Studios. The initial label roster consisted of only three artists; rock band Señor Happy and singer/songwriters Will Dailey and P.J...
, which released his first unsuccessful single "God and My Country" in 1966, before signing McWilliams to his own new Major Minor
Major Minor Records
Major Minor Records was a record label started by Phil Solomon in 1966. It had a distribution deal with Decca Records. Artists on the label included The Dubliners and Johnny Nash. Ultimately the label was bought by EMI....
label. McWilliams' first album, David McWilliams Singing Songs by David McWilliams, was produced and arranged by Mike Leander
Mike Leander
Michael George Farr professionally known as Mike Leander was an arranger and record producer for Decca Records in the 1960s and Bell Records in the 1970s and worked with such artists as Marianne Faithfull, Billy Fury, Marc Bolan, Joe Cocker, The Small Faces, Van Morrison, Alan Price, Peter...
, and reached # 38 on the UK album chart. He quickly recorded a second album, David McWilliams, which reached # 23 in the album chart and featured the single "Days of Pearly Spencer". This was a song about a homeless man McWilliams had encountered in Ballymena, and featured a sweeping orchestral arrangement by Leander and a vocal refrain apparently sung through a megaphone
Megaphone
A megaphone, speaking-trumpet, bullhorn, blowhorn, or loud hailer is a portable, usually hand-held, cone-shaped horn used to amplify a person’s voice or other sounds towards a targeted direction. This is accomplished by channelling the sound through the megaphone, which also serves to match the...
. Massive exposure on Radio Caroline
Radio Caroline
Radio Caroline is an English radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly...
and through advertisements in the UK music press in the summer of 1967 helped generate interest and sales in continental Europe
Continental Europe
Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands....
, and the record topped the charts in numerous countries including France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, selling a million copies worldwide. However, although it became well known in the UK, "Days of Pearly Spencer" failed to make the charts there, perhaps because the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
refused to play it owing to Solomon's links with pirate radio, and through mismanagement McWilliams never profited from the song's success. In Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, the song was covered
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
in 1968 by Caterina Caselli
Caterina Caselli
Caterina Caselli is an Italian record producer and former singer and actress.In 1966 she debuted in the Sanremo Festival with "Nessuno mi può giudicare", a song discarded by Adriano Celentano, scoring a notable success. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc...
as "Il Volto Della Vita". Successful later versions of the song included a disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
version which reached # 1 in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
in the 1980s, and a cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
in 1988 by the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
psychedelic
Psychedelic music
Psychedelic music covers a range of popular music styles and genres, which are inspired by or influenced by psychedelic culture and which attempt to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues-rock bands in the...
band The Vietnam Veterans and their album The Days of Pearly Spencer. A recording by Marc Almond
Marc Almond
Marc Almond is an English singer-songwriter and musician, who originally found fame as half of the seminal synthpop/New Wave duo Soft Cell...
, with an additional verse written by Almond giving the song a more optimistic tone, reached # 4 in the UK charts in 1992.
He released another album, David McWillams III, and several further singles for Major Minor, and toured widely in Europe, on some occasions with The Dubliners
The Dubliners
The Dubliners are an Irish folk band founded in 1962.-Formation and history:The Dubliners, initially known as "The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group", formed in 1962 and made a name for themselves playing regularly in O'Donoghue's Pub in Dublin...
and the Kerries. His 1968 song, "Can I Get There By Candlelight?" was used for the theme
Theme music
Theme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...
of a Dutch radio
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
programme, Candlelight with Jan van Veen. He became very popular in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Italy, as well as in France and Holland, and re-recorded some songs in Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
. Reportedly, David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
once named McWilliams as his favourite songwriter. An album, Days Of Pearly Spencer, comprising tracks from his three albums, was issued by Kapp Records
Kapp Records
Kapp Records was an independent record label started in 1954 by David Kapp, brother of Jack Kapp . David Kapp founded his own label after stints with Decca Records and RCA Victor Records. Kapp licensed its records to London Records for release in the UK.In 1967, David Kapp sold his label to MCA Inc...
in the USA in 1968. He moved to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and released further albums and singles on the Parlophone and Dawn
Dawn Records
Dawn Records was a subsidiary of Pye Records. Active from 1970 to 1975, it was set up largely as Pye's 'underground and progressive' label, a rival of the EMI and Phonogram equivalents, Harvest and Vertigo....
labels in the 1970s, but these were unsuccessful.
McWilliams moved back to Northern Ireland in 1978. He performed infrequently after that, mostly in local bars, although he also headlined a concert in aid of striking miners
UK miners' strike (1984–1985)
The UK miners' strike was a major industrial action affecting the British coal industry. It was a defining moment in British industrial relations, and its defeat significantly weakened the British trades union movement...
in 1984 and occasionally appeared at the Ballycastle
Ballycastle
Ballycastle can refer to:*Ballycastle, County Antrim, a small town in Northern Ireland*Ballycastle, County Mayo, a village in the Republic of Ireland...
Northern Lights Festival. A compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
, The Days of David McWilliams, was issued by RPM Records in 2001.
McWilliams died of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
at his home in Ballycastle, County Antrim
Ballycastle, County Antrim
Ballycastle is a small town in County Antrim in Northern Ireland. Its population was 5,089 people in the 2001 Census. It is the seat and main settlement of Moyle District Council....
in 2002, at the age of 56. He was married twice and had eight children.
Albums
- David McWilliams Singing Songs by David McWilliams (1967) - Major MinorMajor Minor RecordsMajor Minor Records was a record label started by Phil Solomon in 1966. It had a distribution deal with Decca Records. Artists on the label included The Dubliners and Johnny Nash. Ultimately the label was bought by EMI....
- UKUK Albums ChartThe UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
# 38 - David McWilliams (1967) - Major Minor - UK # 23
- David McWilliams Volume 3 (1968) - Major Minor - UK # 39
- Lord Offaly (1972) - DawnDawn RecordsDawn Records was a subsidiary of Pye Records. Active from 1970 to 1975, it was set up largely as Pye's 'underground and progressive' label, a rival of the EMI and Phonogram equivalents, Harvest and Vertigo....
- The Beggar and the Priest (1973) - Dawn
- Livin's Just A State Of Mind (1974) - Dawn
- David McWilliams (1977) - EMIEMI RecordsEMI Records is the flagship record label founded by the EMI company in 1972 and launched in January 1973 as the successor to its Columbia label. The EMI label was launched worldwide...
- Don't Do It For Love (1978) - EMI
- When I Was A Dancer (1979) - EMI (Europe only)
- Wounded (1981) - Carmel
- Working For The Government (1987) - HomespunHomespun RecordsHomespun Records is the original record company of Rick Cassidy. Started in 1967 by Patrick Cassidy . The first album was The Commonwealth's "The Best In Caucasian Soul" LIVE. In 1975 Rick Cassidy released his contemporary...