“When I was about 16, I spent a couple of months playing at clubs in Italy with a blues band. I'll never forget stepping off the plane because Italy just smelt so different - a combination of warmth and coffee.”

English singer-songwriter and actor

David Essex is an English singer-songwriter and actor, best known for his chart success in the UK during the 1970s and 1980s. Born in 1947, he became a familiar figure in British popular music and later on screen. From 1973 to 1994, he placed nineteen singles in the UK Top 40 and sixteen albums in the UK Top 40. His biggest international success came with the 1973 single "Rock On", which remains the song most closely associated with him.