Dave Bartram

Dave Bartram
Born	(1952-03-23) 23 March 1952 Lutterworth, Leicester, England, UK
Genres	glam rock, rock and roll revival
Instrument(s)	Vocals guitar piano
Years active	1973 – present
Formerly of	Showaddywaddy

Dave Bartram (born 23 March 1952) is an English singer, songwriter, television personality, and author. He was the lead vocalist for Rock and roll revival group Showaddywaddy from 1973 to 2011. He was the lead singer for Choise, one of two bands that were merged together to become Showaddywaddy. Bartram wrote many of the bands songs with Trevor Oakes.

Early life

Dave Bartram was born in Lutterworth, Leicester and grew up in Syston. On early tour programmes for Showaddywaddy, a white lie made it out that Dave was American, and was born in Santa Ana, California, United States. Bartram's father was in the Royal Air Force and his mother was a District nurse. After leaving school, Dave trained as an engineer with post office telephones.

His first stage performance was before he turned ten, at a Cub Scout talent show. By his teens, he had taught himself piano and guitar, and was penning his own songs.

Dave's first band was Buttercup Jelly, in 1967, that mainly covered rock and roll songs (most songs by The Beatles).

Career

Showaddywaddy: 1973 – 2011

Oakes played in the group "Choise" (after replacing original lead singer Don Collins) who in 1973, were merged with the band "The Hammers" to form Showaddywaddy. Choise consisted of Trevor Oakes, Bartram, Al James, and Romeo Challenger, and The Hammers consisted of Buddy Gask, Russ Field, Rod Deas, and Malcolm Allured. Trevor and singer Dave Bartram penned many of their songs, although all eight members were credited as songwriters on the records.

They had most of their biggest hits with covers of songs from the 1950s and the early 1960s. These included "Three Steps to Heaven", "Heartbeat", "Under the Moon of Love", "When", "You Got What It Takes" and "Dancin' Party". They have spent 209 weeks on the UK Singles Chart, and have had 10 Top Ten singles, one reaching number one. Under the Moon of Love was their only single to reach number one in the UK.

Bartram was a guest judge on Juke Box Jury on 18 August 1979. Other guests on the show were Keith Chegwin, Dana Rosemary Scallon, Bonnie Tyler, and Pan's People.

From 1983 to 1987, Dave hosted the show "Popwatch",a "pop news" slot that aired on ITV Central.

Retirement from Showaddywaddy and recent work: 2011 – present

Bartram left Showaddywaddy on 3 December 2011 after 38 years fronting the band, and his last gig was at the Kings Hall Theatre in Ilkley, West Yorkshire. Bartram continues as the band's manager, a role he has undertaken since 1984. The band are now managed by Dave's own company, Jive Management. On occasion, Dave comes on stage at certain Showaddywaddy concerts, and performs a few songs.

Bartram did his first solo post-Showaddywaddy appearance on 1 November 2013, at Upstairs At The Western, a venue above The Western pub in Leicester, where he was interviewed by a compere and took questions from the audience in an "evening with"–type format. He also performed three acoustic numbers on the night, "Smiling Eyes", "Three Steps To Heaven" and "Hey Rock And Roll" – the performance of "Smiling Eyes" was the song's first live performance, having been originally released some 38 years earlier on the 1975 Step Two album.

Dave occasionally hosts his own slot on the "That's 70s" channel.

Dave has penned three books, two non-fictional novels "The Boys of Summer" and "All Mapped Out", and a fictional book "Killer Line", all of which have also been released as an Audiobook, narrated by Bartram himself.

Personal life

As of 2003, Bartram spends time on the Portuguese island of Madeira: "Madeira is a great place to chill out, but I do jog up and down the promenade to keep in shape" (Bartram, 2003). He formerly lived in East Midlands from 1983 to 2004, moved back to Leicester in October 2004, but now lives near Bingham, Nottinghamshire.

In the early 1980s, Bartam lost around £15,000 after investing in the clothing business.

Dave has previously owned many Sports cars, including a Mercedes SL380 and SL500, the latter he bought after seeing the film "American Gigolo", in which Richard Gere's character drives a black version of the model.

He has a wife called Cathy, who together had a daughter, Holly, who was born in 1986.

COVID-19 diagnosis

On 20 January 2021, Bartram tested positive for COVID-19. His wife had tested positive previously, and that inspired Dave to get tested himself. He described his experience with the illness as: "It bears no relation to flu whatsoever. It is the most brutal virus I have ever experienced." Dave also said: "I collapsed on the sofa and was out cold for a few hours and it was like that on a daily basis for five days". He had complications with breathing and had such a severe tight chest on one of the nights, he nearly called an ambulance. By February, he had recovered.