David Essex American dream? It would’ve been a nightmare

David says his career has all been a bit of an accident.

David Essex has been a huge success as a singer, a songwriter and an actor on stage and screens both big and small.

But according to the man himself, his career’s all been a bit of an accident.

Instead of the screaming fans and the spotlight, he’d have been much happier hunkered down behind a drumkit in a dingy club somewhere.

All he ever wanted to be, you see, was a jazz drummer.

“That’s it, I just wanted to be behind the cymbals with a black polo neck and a fag hanging out, really!” laughs the annoyingly well-preserved 65-year-old.

“The ambition was football initially, I was playing for West Ham Boys and that was my life.

“And then at about 14 or 15, I went into this blues club in Soho I shouldn’t have been there stayed all night, heard the music and thought: ‘I want to be a musician.’

“And it seemed to me that the easiest thing to pick up was the drums and away I went, which wasn’t easy in a council flat!

“Dad was kind of up for the idea. I think he hated it more than the neighbours but he was always a man for personal freedom.

“It’s nice keeping a solid beat but I loved the freedom of playing jazz. I had idols like Art Blakey, Joe Morello and Buddy Rich.

“But then the lead guitarist in my band said he couldn’t play effective guitar and sing, and as I was the youngest, they forced it on me.

“So I was dragged off the drums, stuck up the front and it was downhill from there!

“There are probably things I should have done, I should probably have taken America a bit more seriously after Rock On was No 1 over there.

“America’s the golden chalice for most people. I was with Columbia Records and they rang and said: ‘Your record’s No 1, we need you over here touring’ and I said: ‘Ooh, I can’t do that, I’m busy!’.

“They were gobsmacked, and couldn’t quite work out what was going on at the other end of the phone.”

You get the impression that’s not something David loses much sleep over.

“I’ve always been my own man,” he nods.

“Years later, I was over there doing a bit for a film and they offered me this TV series but you’d sign your life away for 15 years!” I like the UK, this is where I live, my family are very important to me, so I don’t regret any of that.

“I thought: ‘I can’t do that’ but the more I said no to, the more pressure came. People were offering me this and that but it was ridiculous.

“At the end of the day, I’ve always hoped to satisfy myself initially in the hope that it relates, and being 15 years in whatever this was, was not what I wanted to do.”

Despite not heading Stateside, it seems like David’s been on the road non-stop for the past few years but it’s not because he likes being away from home.

“I’m not a lover of hotels,” he explains.

“I remember lots of times being besieged in my room by very enthusiastic folk outside the hotel, so I’d have to stay inside my room locked away!”

His one settled spell was the stint he spent on Albert Square, when he quickly made twinkle-eyed rogue Eddie Moon one of EastEnders’ most popular characters.

“I enjoyed it,” he nods. “It seemed to work well with the old storylines, the viewing figures went up and all that.

“It’s fast and it’s furious, and I honestly think if you can do EastEnders as an actor, when you’ve got big storylines, you can do anything.

“I remember Steve John Shepherd, who played Eddie’s son Michael, and myself one day had 32 pages of dialogue.

“You only get it on the Monday and this was filmed on the Thursday, so it’s difficult, but I did really enjoy it and I was blessed because I got to work with some terrific actors there.”

To the layman, the steady pay cheque and regular hours of a soap seem easier than a hard touring schedule but David argues: “Because they knew they only had me for five months, they gave me bucketfuls of stuff to do, so I can’t go along with it being easier, especially the early mornings.

“You just learn lines when you come home, go to bed about 10 o’clock, get up about 5.30 and away you go again.

“Then you get there, you’ve genned up on what your lines are and what the scene is and then all of a sudden somebody gives you a rewrite!

“It’s a bit of an adventure but I’m glad I did it. There’s talk about going back but I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Also, life on the soap treadmill wouldn’t suit someone who admits they’re “not good with routine”.

“No! I have the concentration span of a gnat, and I think that’s why I work in so many different mediums,” David admits.

One thing taking up more of his time nowadays is his growing brood of grandkids “Yeah, five grandkids and four children,” is the proud tally.

But surely a fair few women would be shocked to realise they were fantasising about a grandad?

“Absolutely! But that’s a touchy subject with me, all that good-looking stuff,” he says.

“It’s not my cup of tea, I’m just getting on with what I do.”