Dave Rotheray
| David Rotheray | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | David Rotheray |
| Born | 9 February 1963 |
| Genres | Indie pop, pop, alternative rock |
| Occupation(s) | Guitarist, songwriter |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Years active | 1982–present |
| Associated acts | The Beautiful South, Homespun |
David Rotheray (born 9 February 1963, Hull, England) is an English rock and pop musician, best known for being the lead guitarist for The Beautiful South.
Rotheray was born the fifth of five children. His parents were both intellectual and had met through the Young Communist League. Having much older brothers and sisters speeded up his musical progress; by the age of 10 he was listening to rock and imagined being in a band. His chosen instrument at the time was the bass guitar.
Rotheray joined his first band when he was aged 13; it was called Mammoth, at one time performing the then-current Sex Pistols song, "Pretty Vacant" at a school concert, without any microphones. At that time Rotheray's musical tastes were for progressive rock, his favourite being Pink Floyd. His parents were worried but still allowed him to play and drove him to clubs to perform. Eventually, Mammoth evolved into a band called The Newpolitans. Both Mammoth and the Newpolitans featured Hugh Whitaker on drums, who later became the drummer for The Housemartins. The Newpolitans also later featured Dave Hemingway on drums, who also became drummer for the Housemartins and then a singer with the Beautiful South.
The Newpolitan's style was a mixture of the current musical styles, from the Style Council to the Gang of Four. Band members included temporary additions, mainly for demo recordings, were saxophonist Kev Christian and the trumpet players Andrew Nicholson and Andy Russell. The Newpolitans recorded a self-financed single, but the failure of the single provided the catalyst for the band's demise. Rotheray and Hemingway then went on to form the Velvetones with other musician friends from Hull.
Whilst studying for a PhD at Hull University, living on Grafton Street in Hull, Rotheray met Paul Heaton who formed the Beautiful South and they began writing songs together.
In 2001, Heaton released the album, Fat Chance. However, as the bulk of tracks on Fat Chance were written by Heaton alone, or with other collaborators rather than Rotheray, it was decided that Rotheray too would have a side project whilst The Beautiful South were on a recording hiatus.
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