David Parton (born David Eric Stanley Parton, 1948) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer from Newcastle Under Lyme,

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

, England. He was also known as Des Parton, based on the initials of his first three names.

Career

Parton was the

frontman The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

of Strange Fox, who were nurtured by

Tony Hatch Anthony Peter Hatch (born 30 June 1939) is an English composer for musical theatre and television. He is also a songwriter, pianist, arranger and producer. Early life and early career Hatch was born in Pinner, Middlesex. Encouraged by his mu ...

in the early 1970s. 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. 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 Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

. 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. Parton then sang a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

's "

Isn't She Lovely "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 ...

" 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. It was released in 1976 and charted in the UK Singles Chart in January 1977 for nine weeks, reaching number 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 The year 2012 marked the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II being the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952. The only diamond jubilee celebration for any of Elizabeth's predecessors was in 1897, for Queen Victo ...

). Lack of further

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

action saw Parton dubbed as a

one-hit wonder A one-hit wonder is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music performers with ...

. He later worked as a songwriter and producer based in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

. He has generally sung and played guitar with local bands from North Staffordshire.

Songwriting credits

*"Sad Sweet Dreamer" – Sweet Sensation *"Purely by Coincidence" – Sweet Sensation *"Belinda" – Coup De Cœur

Discography

Albums

*''Snaps'' – Buk Records – 1975 : All tracks written & arranged by Des Parton #"Lawman" – (5:36) #"Eyes as Sad as Yours" (4:20) #"All the Live Long Day" (4:48) #"Oh for the Glory" (5:53) #"Queenie" (4:14) #"Jane" (3:25) #"The Nigger's Coming" (2:48) #"Something for the Likes of You" (3:42) #"Longest Journey" (3:17) #"Vandal" (3:51)

Singles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Parton, David 1948 births Living people English male singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters English record producers English pop guitarists English male guitarists English pop singers Musicians from Staffordshire People from Newcastle-under-Lyme