Dave started playing guitar at the age of twelve, struggling by himself, but determined. He was soaking up all the music he could, listening to Alan 'Fluff' Freeman's Saturday afternoon Radio 1 show with his brother to the likes of The Eagles, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell and Free.

Free, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Mountain and UFO would become his favourite rock bands and Mozart his favourite composer.
"My Nana bought me my first guitar for my 12th birthday, the following Christmas my Mother and Father, persuaded by my constant whining, bought me my first electric guitar, a CSL Sunburst Les Paul copy which I still possess. This guitar became my pride and joy, and I took it everywhere with me"

At his 'O' level music exam, whilst everyone in the class was allowed to play whatever piece they wanted, his teacher said he had to play Greensleeves, this he did, so moved by his performance, the examiner and his teacher requested that he play it once more! Dave says he just felt totally embarrassed and hated the piece with a passion and only recently can he bear to play or listen to that piece again!

"Since leaving school I have spent all my time (and money!) on pursuing music in any shape or form, including writing, recording, teaching and my favourite - playing live. Years of working in the North-East of England's pub and club circuit gave me an ability to entertain and communicate with an audience. If you don't learn that here you'll have a very short career!! It also gave me a bit of a reputation for being a little better/different than the norm, utilizing every trick in the book; playing the guitar with my teeth, behind my head, with a violin bow, cordless drill - anything to get noticed, really! This led to joining a band called Nobody's Fool for five years, and then forming UUFO, and also a treading solo path which I love as it means I have no compromising to do, I play/write/record whatever I want, and that brings a great sense of freedom."

Dave met Ritchie at the 1998 Stormin' The Castle biker's rally in Durham, "Ritchie's band walked on stage as the opening act with suits on and belted it out like they were headlining. I was knocked out by Ritchie's vocals and stage prescence. We struck up a rapport straight away and became good friends pretty soon. I was already planning to record an album of original material, which wasn't in our singer's agenda at the time, so I approached Ritchie to do the album and fortunately he said yes".

Nobody's Fool put together two albums - the first, although untitled, was known as Little Black Dress and was recorded in just 30 hours and released on 1st April 1999, and the second Turn Another Page was never officially released, due to internal wrangles. The band fell apart in late 2000. However, in November 1999 they did appear in Future Publications' Undiscovered Originals competition held at Wembley I.E.C.C. The first leg of the competition turned out to be the first gig with the new line-up! The Wembley gig was on Saturday 27th November. The following morning Dave performed "Odyssey" from the Little Black Dress album at the Guitarist Of The Year competition. "I'd never do that again - it reminded me too much of my 'O' level exam!"

In 2002, after Dave's marriage break-up and his brother Bernie's tragic passing, Dave quit working the live circuit, even struggling to pick up his guitar. It took him until late 2003 to start up again, and so began his solo career, where he was able to be in full control of all aspects - creating the music, recording it, and designing the artwork.

Jump forward to Autumn 2004, and one day Ritchie called Dave up and suggested recording a mini acoustic album of UFO’s ballads. This would be purely self-indulgent, something for them only to listen to. However, before long Dave had recorded enough tracks to do a full album. This is the Night Bars & Guitars album.

They then decided to record another album, this one would reflect the live set they did as UU.F.O. this is being finalised and should be ready for release in the late summer.

A third album is also planned, this one will be from the Chapman, and the Schenker reunion era’s.