The Story Behind the Songs

David Tonks was born in Wigan, Lancashire in 1937. He was a pupil at Rossall School and it was there, as a teenage boy, that he played the lead role in the school’s production of W.S. Gilbert and A. Sullivan’s The Mikado.

David was called-up for National Service after he left school and served in the Army in the mountains of Cyprus. Whilst in the Army David performed on stage with The Entertainment National Service Association (E.N.S.A.).

On leaving the Army David travelled to London where he sang in The Breadbasket. At that time, in the late 1950s, this was one of a number of lively and fashionable coffee bars in the West End where up and coming young pop-musicians would show-piece their work.

From The Breadbasket David moved down to the south coast of England where he became a “Redcoat” singing and entertaining at Butlins Holiday Camp near Brighton.

Around early 1961 David left Butlins and sailed to America. He lived in Detroit, where he sang in The Colonial Bar onWest Grand Boulevard, before moving to San Francisco. By contrast, in San Francisco, most of David’s singing was done in church with the choir of the First Congregational Church, located near the city centre.

David returned home to England in 1964. He settled in Oxfordshire with his wife and growing family and has lived there ever since. David has continued to sing and for the past fifty years has answered any call to entertain an audience. He has sung in the local village church choir, at weddings, birthday parties and all sorts of other local charitable events.

The recordings on this website were made by David over the course of many years. They were not originally intended to be heard by a wide audience but they have been made available here for anyone who wishes to listen to them. The earliest recordings were made with a simple old-fashioned cassette recorder, with David playing his guitar or old piano. David eventually invested in an electric keyboard, updated his recording equipment and was able to record onto C.D. These are therefore the later recordings.

This website is a kind of musical memoir of David’s life. It contains most of David’s favourite songs including My Object All Sublime (from The Mikado) and What do you want to make those eyes at me for? which was a number one for Emile Ford in 1959 and which became a favourite of David’s following his days in The Breadbasket. David also includes a favourite song of his which was part of his entertainment act at Butlins called I’m The Only Man On The Island, as well as many more!

David’s repertoire is broad and diverse and this website also provides a unique musical “sketch” of a century or more of both serious and popular music. On this website you will hear David singing famous old parlour ballads from the Victorian era, such as The Lost Chord by A. Sullivan (1877), songs from the great stage shows of the 1920s and 30s, such as Old Man River from Show Boat (1927), hits from the 1940s and ‘50s,such as those of Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley and many more timeless hits dating from the 1960s onwards, such as those of The Beatles and Abba. And, of course, because he is from Wigan, David has thrown in a couple of George Formby numbers too!

David sends his best wishes and hopes you enjoy this website.