Early career Essex made his first record, titled "And the Tears Came Tumbling Down", in 1965. He then toured with a band called 'David Essex and the Mood Indigo' for two years, and released a further seven singles in the 1960s. He also recorded two songs, "A Rose" and "Leon and John and Billy and Me" which remain unreleased, but exist as acetates. His first notable acting role, aside from small appearances in the films
Assault and
All Coppers Are..., in 1971 at the age of 23. Two years later, he starred in the film ''
That'll Be the Day (1973) and recorded his international hit single, the self-penned "Rock On", in the same year. It was nominated for a Grammy and reached No. 5 on the Billboard
Hot 100. The title song was another Top 10 hit. In 1976, Essex covered the Beatles song "Yesterday" for the musical documentary All This and World War II''. Essex's pop idol looks gave him a strong female fan base, and his British tours created scenes of hysteria reminiscent of
Beatlemania. According to
The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles, he was voted the number one British male vocalist in 1974, and was a teen idol for more than a decade.
Musical roles After a couple of years (from November 1971) playing the lead in
Godspell in London, in December 1973 Essex appeared in the stage version of
Tommy at London's Rainbow Theatre. In 1978, he appeared on
Jeff Wayne's
musical version of The War of the Worlds, as the Artilleryman. In the UK the two-record set remains a best-seller. In the same year, Essex played the character
Che in the original production of
Tim Rice and
Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical
Evita, and his recording of the show's "
Oh What a Circus" reached number three. As the best known of the principal performers, Essex actually received top billing, above
Elaine Paige whose stardom seemingly arrived overnight with her casting in the show. His contract required him to remain with the show for just five and a half months, during which, unusually and as Essex had predicted, his understudy,
Nigel Planer, was never required to perform. Two years later, he starred in the motorcycle racing film
Silver Dream Racer; and the
soundtrack song "
Silver Dream Machine" was a top five hit in the UK singles chart. Essex, a keen motorcyclist, waived his fee for the then-new 1980 electric-start
Triumph Bonneville he had contracted to advertise on behalf of the struggling
Triumph motorcycle workers' co-operative. In 1981, he starred in
Childe Byron, a play staged at the
Young Vic theatre. In 1985, he co-wrote and starred as
Fletcher Christian in the
West End musical
Mutiny!, based on the novel
Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. The score produced two more hit singles, including "Tahiti", his tenth Top 10 success. In February 2016, Essex performed in the West End production of ''Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War Of The Worlds'' at London's
Dominion Theatre as the Voice of Humanity.
Later career Essex continued to perform in all areas of
show business. A 1988 sitcom,
The River, achieved good ratings. In 1991, a music compilation entitled
His Greatest Hits reached number 13; a 1993 album,
Cover Shot, featuring a cover version of the
Buzz Cason/
Mac Gayden song "
Everlasting Love", peaked at number 3. His autobiography,
A Charmed Life, was published in 2002, and became a best-seller. In the
1999 New Year Honours, Essex was appointed an
Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "for charitable services, especially to Voluntary Service Overseas." He still tours the UK every year and releases albums through his website. Despite his long and successful British career, he remains largely unknown in the United States. "
Rock On" reached number three in 1974 and was his only US
Cash Box Top 40
hit single. Essex, who comes from a family of
Irish Travellers, played a kind-hearted nomad in one episode of
ITV1's 1960s
Yorkshire-based drama
Heartbeat in 2000. He played a character called Johnny Lee. Essex told Jake Bowers of the BBC's
Rokker Radio, a programme for Gypsies and Travellers, on 30 July 2006, that he has always been openly proud of his Traveller family history. He was Patron of Britain's National Gypsy Council, which works for equal rights, education, and services for
Romany and
Irish Travellers. Also that year, he appeared in the
Channel 4 documentary Bring Back...The Christmas Number One. Essex was due to join the cast of
soap opera EastEnders, in early 2006, as new character
Jack Edwards, but the role was expanded beyond the three weeks planned, and Essex was unable to commit the time. The role instead went to
Nicky Henson. A model and recording of Essex is featured in the museum of
West Ham United Football Club. In the recording, he explains his reasons for supporting West Ham and his love of the team. Essex spent six years as an ambassador for
Voluntary Service Overseas, which earned him an OBE in 1999. From September 2008 to the summer of 2009 he took his own musical,
All the Fun of the Fair, on a tour of the United Kingdom. He followed this in the autumn with a sell-out solo tour of the UK, named the Secret Tour. Essex has released a
DVD on his website of the last night of the tour, filmed in
Bournemouth. He returned to London's West End with
All the Fun of the Fair but with a different ending from that performed in the provinces. In January 2011, it was announced that Essex had finally joined the cast of
EastEnders as
Eddie Moon, five years after he was initially supposed to appear in the show. His first on-screen appearance was on 3 June 2011. Eddie left the square on 6 October 2011. He then wrote the music score for the film
Traveller (2013), in which he co-starred with his son Billy Cook who played the main role as a half-gypsy trying to find his identity. ==Personal life==