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MUSIC: David Essex, Opera House, May 22
14/ 5/2008
IN WAS in the 1974 film Stardust that David Essex gave one of his most memorable film performances.
Thirty years later, and that magical stardust powder still seems to be in plentiful supply.
While other pop legends of a veteran age might be resting their feet and dreaming of their former glory days, 60-year-old Essex is still managing to conjure up glory days.
A year ago, in his last visit to Manchester, Essex lit up the stage in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Aspects of Love. Essex received glowing reviews, critics praising his commanding stage presence and ever irresistible voice.
Of course, Essex has always had those qualities, but what’s amazing is how durable they’ve been. Making his biggest impact in the seventies, he was the quintessential British teen pop heartthrob, provoking scenes of Beatlemania-style hysteria amongst teenage girls.
But Essex, unlike many other seventies pop idols, was a man with a firm grip on his career path. He has written and/or recorded a string of hit records in the UK and the US, chalking up an amazing 23 singles in the British Top 30 alone.
Rock On topped the US charts and established him in American showbusiness while films like Stardust and West End roles in Evita (another Lloyd Webber production) proved his dramatic dexterity.
Sure to spark scenes of jubilation amongst ladies of a certain age, the David Essex who plays in Manchester this week is very much the original pop idol Essex. Focusing on his greatest hits and back catalogue, David Essex is proving that he’s still soaked in stardust when others his age may be dreaming of retirement.
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1/06/2008 at 16:22