David Parton | |
---|---|
Birth name | David Eric Stanley Parton |
Born | 1948 (age 75–76) |
Origin | Newcastle Under Lyme, Staffordshire, England |
Genres | Pop, Rock, R&B |
Instrument | Vocals |
David Parton (born David Eric Stanley Parton, 1948) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer from Newcastle Under Lyme, Staffordshire, England. He was also known as Des Parton, based on the initials of his first three names.
Parton was the frontman of Strange Fox, who were nurtured by Tony Hatch in the early 1970s. [1] Parton achieved songwriting success writing songs for Sweet Sensation in the mid-1970s, namely "Sad Sweet Dreamer" which was a number 1 single in the UK, and "Purely by Coincidence" which also charted. [1] He arranged and co-produced both tracks with Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent.
In 1975, Parton released an album entitled Snaps on the Buk record label, a short lived imprint of Decca Records. [2] A year later he re-emerged with a band called The Cyril Dagworth Players, where Parton masqueraded as Dagworth. They released one album, also co-produced by Parton and Hatch. [3]
Parton then sang a cover version of Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely" which he again co-produced with Hatch. When the original contracted singer (Marcel King from Sweet Sensation) was unable to re-create Wonder's vocal nuances, rather than dispose of the backing track, Parton sang the lead vocal, and it was decided to issue this version. [1] It was released in 1976 and charted in the UK Singles Chart in January 1977 for nine weeks, reaching number 4 [4] (Stevie Wonder's original was not released as a single, but peaked at number 94 in the UK Singles Chart in 2012 based on downloads following his performance of the song at the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II). Lack of further chart action saw Parton dubbed as a one-hit wonder. He later worked as a songwriter and producer based in Cheshire. [1]
He has generally sung and played guitar with local bands from North Staffordshire.
Year | Title | UK [4] [5] | Certifications |
---|---|---|---|
1977 | "Isn't She Lovely" | 4 | |
"In Everything You Do" | — | ||
1978 | "Let's Make This Dream Last Forever" | — | |
"—" denotes releases that did not chart. |
Stevland Hardaway Morris, known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. One of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the 20th century, he is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include R&B, pop, soul, gospel, funk, and jazz. A virtual one-man band, Wonder's use of synthesizers and other electronic musical instruments during the 1970s reshaped the conventions of contemporary R&B. He also helped drive such genres into the album era, crafting his LPs as cohesive and consistent, in addition to socially conscious statements with complex compositions. Blind since shortly after his birth, Wonder was a child prodigy who signed with Motown's Tamla label at the age of 11, where he was given the professional name Little Stevie Wonder.
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"Isn't She Lovely" is a song by Stevie Wonder from his 1976 album, Songs in the Key of Life. The lyrics celebrate the birth of his daughter, Aisha Morris. Wonder collaborated on the song with Harlem songwriter and studio owner Burnetta "Bunny" Jones.
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