Dave

Wouter Otto Levenbach born 4 May 1944 known as Dave is a Dutch Francophone singer who had a string of number one hits in France in the 1970s A native of Amsterdam he resides in Paris Dave was born in Amsterdam His father was Jewish and an English teacher by trade his mother was a classical dancer He has two brothers Marteen and Lucas and a sister Elsbeth He learned to play the guitar at age 14 He became a very spiritual person who prayed frequently and even planned to study theology however he eventually chose to study law Among other things he was inspired by Jack Kerouacs On the Road a revolutionary novel which encouraged young people to leave home and learn life on the road and to communicate with others Passionate about the sea and rivers a love which he owes to his grandfather he left the Netherlands by boat with 1000 guilders in his pocket about two months living expenses He met Eddie Barclay the executive for Barclay Records in SaintTropez in 1968 Barclay was responsible for launching Daves career in show business On 26 February 1969 he participated in the Nationaal Songfestival the Dutch preselection contest for that years Eurovision Song Contest with a song called Niets gaat zo snel but did not win In Summer 1969 he reached the Dutch Top 40 charts for the first time with Nathalie peaking at No 28 From 1971 to 1974 he was one of the actors in the musical Godspell making friends with actor Daniel Auteuil who would become his best friend In 1974 he released his first hit Trop Beau a French adaptation of The Rubettes hit Sugar Baby Love later he released Vanina his first number one single in France an adaptation of Del Shannons Runaway adapted into French by Patrick Loiseau These were followed in 1975 by the three hits Mon cœur est malade Dansez maintenant and Du côté de chez Swann His selftitled first album was released at the end of 1975 By that time he did not only have great success in France and Belgium but also in his country of origin the Netherlands where Dansez maintenant was a number 1 hit in the top 40 and Du côté de chez Swann made the top 10 too His later hits included Lettre à Hélène 1978 Comment ne pas être amoureux de vous 1978 and Allo Elisa 1979 In the 1980s his popularity waned following the advent of FM radio in France He still had an audience due to live performances and his classic hits However he himself likened the ebb to a crossing of a very pretty desert In 1993 he released a new album then in 1994 he made a comeback following the release of a greatest hits album which sold more than 200000 copies He later recorded a new album entitled Toujours le même bleu which included a title single from which enables him to hit the charts once again It is also around this time that he came out as homosexual Source Article Dave singer from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA