A biography for David Essexhasn’t been written yet.
“My first concert tour was extraordinary - I couldn't hear what was going on and no one else could hear what was going on, because there was so much screaming. Once a fan jumped from the royal box. It all took me by surprise.”
“I'm a bit of a Renaissance man. Or you could say I have a short attention span. I'm always thinking, what shall I do now?”
“Kids know how to play one parent off against the other. So Mum says no, only to be told: 'But Dad said it was OK... ' And then you find yourself in all sorts of trouble for being a pushover.”
“I was never one of those people who was desperate to be famous.”
“As an ardent follower of the Blues it wasn't the done thing to own up to liking The Beatles but secretly I thought their singing and writing were special. After the 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' album it was cool to say they were cool.”
“There was always music in our house and my mum used to play the piano in a pub, so we were a fairly musical family.”
“I'm a big fan of Brian Wilson. I read that he used to write with his feet in a tin of sand so I thought he couldn't be all that bad.”
“I played for West Ham juniors and thought I'd become a professional footballer.”
“I never do karaoke. I don't enjoy singing to be honest.”
“The British like to pigeonhole you, but I will keep popping out of different holes.”
“My grandfather was a travelling tinker in Cork.”
“You just have to be professional and show the kind of courtesy and interest in audiences that they have shown in me. I hope that doesn't sound too worthy - it's just the way I feel.”
“I remember doing the film 'Silver Dream Racer' in which the English version had me being blown up on the bike and the American version was changed because he'd just won. I think we Brits seem to like a bit of negative drama at the end.”
“Dad was a longshoreman, a docker, and my mother scrubbed pub floors.”
“I could never get up and do a concert of three-minute numbers and take myself seriously. I leave that to other people.”
“I suppose my worst holiday was when I visited Gambia in North Africa. Somehow the word got round and before I knew it I was besieged by fans and autograph hunters. I spent most of the holiday dodging them.”
“Interviews can be interesting. A bit like going to a psychiatrist, you know?”
“I tend to use my time on holiday being creative rather than switching off which I realise I should do.”
“I have always tried to get to tomorrow today. I don't really wallow in what is happening at the moment.”
“I never really did anything academically.”