Gavin and
Virginia David were members of SAILOR when the
"Dressed For Drowning" album was recorded in
1980. Biography
of Virginia David... Born on the 07 January
1957, Ginny spent much of her earlier life in the West
Country, going on to complete her A levels at Cheltenham
Technical College. A full and detailed account can be found in the book "A Glass Of Champagne The Official Sailor Story". |
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Biography
of Gavin David...
with special
thanks to James McCarraher:
Gavin was born on the 03 November
1954 in Cairo (just before the Suez crisis) into an academically
strong family (his father was a headmaster and grandfather, a
bishop). He was educated at Kings School in Gloucester and
Dean Close in Cheltenham.
Gavin and his younger sister shared a mutual love of music and
played in their own band, The North Coast Band, Gavin on bass and
Ginny on lead vocals. They also collaborated with Randy Van
Warmer and teamed up as a trio with Tony Hazzard who had penned
several Sixties hits including "Fox On The Run".
Meeting Phil through their local folk club, Gavin and Ginny were
invited to join Phil and Henry as The Private Eyes (who became
SAILOR Mark II). Gavin travelled with Ginny to James William
Guercios Caribou Ranch where they recorded two albums
between 1980 and 1981, "Dressed For Drowning" and
"TV Land".
Gavin recognises that it was a magical experience: "We were
plucked from the depths of Cornwall, transplanted to another
country and we made the best of it. I was sad that things
hadnt worked out for this incarnation of SAILOR because we
had had so much support and enthusiasm from many people."
Gavin has since left the music business but has led a full and
interesting life: "Following SAILOR I briefly worked with
another old friend with Cornwall connections - Rick Borrie. We
formed the rock band Rhetoric, which later worked the London
small club scene doing original stuff mainly penned by Rick. I
played bass and sang. However, my heart wasn't in it. I was
disillusioned with the music business and after six months (late
summer 1981), I left the U.K to become a real sailor. I ended up
licking my wounds in the eastern Mediterranean (on the Greek
island of Kos) where I was rescued by a ship load of Vikings
(Danes) sailing around the Aegean on a beautifully ramshackle old
schooner - the skipper was a mad character straight out of a
pirate adventure, leaping around the deck and swinging in the
rigging like Johnny Depp in 'Pirates of the Caribbean'. We ended
up in Turkey in a place called Bodrum. As I stepped down the
gangway I felt I'd arrived home; it was the most extraordinary
feeling. I stayed there for the next ten years. The following
year (1982) I worked as a charter skipper out of Bodrum and one
late September day bumped into the Danish schooner again where I
met my wife to be, Annette. We settled in Bodrum and lived there
till 1991 during which time we got married on the beach under an
olive tree and had two kids (Kaj and Nina). I started and ran my
own yacht business called SOS Bodrum with a Turkish friend, which
is still going strong under his steady hand. I sold my shares in
1993 following our return to the UK for yet another life-change.
Since our return, I have been through university studying
landscape architecture, which I now practise with a large
architectural and environmental consultancy. I still have my
original Seventies six string acoustic from the London/Cornish
band days. To be honest I don't play very much (regrettably) but
I am known to exercise the beast once in a blue moon when the
fancy takes me, usually when I've had a few."
© James McCarraher 2004.
A full and detailed account can be found in the book "A Glass Of Champagne The Official Sailor Story".
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Go to: Georg
Kajanus |