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THURSDAY JUNE 16, 201624 THURSDAY JUNE 16, 2016 29
BYG O N ESWith Andy Smart
Arnold-born rock and roller Dave Taylor hasdied in his adopted home of Angeles City,The Philippines. ANDY SMART looks back atthe career of a unique performer
REMEMBERING HELLRAISER KING OF BOOGIE WOOGIEandy.smart@nottinghampost.com nottinghampost.com/bygones
DON’T MISS MONTHLYBYGONES: OUT NOW
DAVE Taylor trained tobe a classical pianistin his home in Arnold– but it was the boogie
woogie beat that earned himthe reputation as one of Bri-t a i n’s greatest rock andro l l e r s.
Dave’s music career beganin the late 1960s, playing pubpianos around Nottingham.
In 1972, aged just 15, heformed Little Dave and theRhythm Band and althoughthat was short-lived, he thenjoined a professional outfitcalled Earthquake.
At 17 he turned his back ona job at Raleigh and became afull-time rock and roller withThe Hellraisers, appearingwith people like Bill Haley,Chuck Berry, B B King andShakin’ Stevens, touredthroughout Europe andScandinavia, together withcontinuous session work.
Over the past four decadeshe released nearly 20 albums,played in front of 100,000people, and broke through theIron Curtain before PaulMcCartney first appearedthere. In 2004 he wasinducted into the RockabillyHall of Fame.
In an interview with thePost several years ago, Daverecalled: “In 1976, I metProcol Harum back stage atthe Kuusrock festival, Oulu,Finland where we (TheHellraisers), played in front ofa 60,000 strong audience.
“In fact, I remember gettingdrunk with these guys, whilstnot even knowing who theywere at the time!
“As there was no piano atthe venue, Markku thepromoter and I went to a localmusic shop in Oulu, the maintown nearby, and Markkusold the owner of the shop onsome idea about sponsoringthe band in return forallowing us to borrow one ofhis new pianos, and so wereturned to the festival areaand set up this brand newpiano on stage.
“The gig was electrifying. Iwas to do the first track,Honky Tonk Train Blues. Iwalked on stage to face anaudience of more than 60,000people. I was completelystunned for a few secondsand then ploughed into theboogie-woogie number.
“After a nerve-racking fiveminutes, the rest of the band
followed on stage, much tomy relief!
“Towards the end of theone-hour show, I waspounding the piano, and theaudience was going wild. Withthe help of one of theHellraisers, Graham Fenton, I
pushed the piano right up tothe edge of the stage, while Icontinued playing it.
“The audience, along withMikko Alatalo (a local famousmusic producer) and AlvinStardust, who was to performthe next night, was beckoning
us to bring the piano nearerand nearer towards themwhen, suddenly, we ran out ofstage and the brand newpiano fell off the edge anddropped about 30 feet intothe security area surroundingthe stage, smashing into a
thousand pieces.“With that, the audience
broke through the securitybarriers to collect pieces ofthe piano. The security guyswere engulfed by thousandsof screaming fans and withinminutes there was nothing
left of the piano except theiron frame.
“In all the confusion, Irealised on stage that I didn’thave a piano to play anymore,but I was still in the middle ofmy solo! The band continuedthe playing and I continued
my solo on a piece of woodon the side of the stage.
“After the gig was over,there were hundreds of fans,mainly girls, clamouring formy autograph. I never didfind out what Markku said tothe shop owner about the
piano.”Dave stayed in Finland in
the late-1970s until a wranglewith the government over awork permit, but hecontinued to perform to alegion of fans throughoutScandinavia.
His reputation spread andin 1985 he was offered a six-month contract in Hong Kongand toured Japan and Macao,playing at British militarybases including a memorableconcert for the Black WatchRegiment.
In 1987 he returned toEurope for a concert inBarcelona, playing to a totalaudience of 300,000 fans.
Dave is said to have beenthe first Western rock ‘n’roller to hit the Soviet Unionin 1988, headlining a concertfor the Youth CommunistParty. A few years later, Davereturned to Russia on thecollapse of the communistregime to perform for theReformed ex-CommunistYouth Party.
In 1992, Dave toured the USfor the first time travellingfrom New Orleans toMemphis and Los Angeles,and even across the border toVancouver.
In October 1998, Dave wasengaged to play at the CannesTV Festival by US cable TVnetwork HBO. He performedwith the Italian band TheGood Fellas.
The show was such asuccess that Dave and TheGood Fellas were booked toappear at the launch of AustinPowers’ The Spy WhoShagged Me film, performingto VIP guests, including a hostof Hollywood stars andproducers such as StevenSpielberg, Sean Connery, ValKilmer, Charles Bronson,Mick Jagger, and Sir RichardBranson at the Cannes FilmFestival in May 1999.
In 2008, Rockin Davedecided, after 38 years of
performing around the world,to ‘hang up his piano’ andretire from touring. Herelocated to The Philippineswhere he was planning torelax and concentrate on hiscomposing and recording.
But he then opened his ownclub in Angeles City, which henamed Midnight Rock MusicLounge, and which proved ahuge success.
Famous showman andpolitician Screamin’ LordSutch once said about Dave:“Over the past four decades, Ihave worked with some of thebest in the business: EricClapton, Charlie Watts, JeffBeck. Dave Taylor, in myopinion falls into the samecategory with these top guys.”
He went on to say: “Davedoesn’t just ‘tinkle theivories’, he hammers the keysto death!”
His nephew Ady Simpsonsaid: “Dave has a survivingolder brother Phil who lives inBritish Columbia, and anolder sister Sylvia who lives inInverness. Other than that, hehas myself remaining inNottingham, but a wide circleof friends who will sorely misshim and his many fans whowill mourn his passing.”
Rockin Dave Taylor, whowas 59, was cremated inAngeles City and his asheswere scattered, from a lightaircraft, above the crater lakeof the volcano Mt Pinabatu.
The king of boogie-woogie, Rockin Dave Taylor fromArnold, who has died at the age of 59.
Dave Taylor (secondleft) with his band TheHellraisers circa 1976.Some of the members ofthis band were formerlyknown as the Fentones –Shane Fenton’s oldband, before he laterbecame Alvin Stardust.
The bill for the 1976 festival in Finland whichfeatured Procul Harum, Alvin Stardust andNottingham rocker Dave Taylor's band TheHellraisers
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