David Essex facts: Age, songs, films and TV roles of the 'Rock On' legend

5 September 2025, 14:06 | Updated: 9 September 2025, 12:34

By Mayer Nissim

Hey, did you rock 'n' roll? David Essex certainly did.

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David Essex recorded his first songs in the 1960s, but it was in the decade that followed that he became a proper pop legend.

He's also a serious star of stage and screen, racking up some major movie credits and top level award nominations for treading the boards.

But do you know David Essex's real name? What his first single was?

Do you know the name of Essex's 1980s sitcom, or how many times he's been married?

Read on for all the fast facts you need about 'Rock On' superstar David Essex.

What is David Essex's real name and how old is he?

David Essex was born David Albert Cook on July 23, 1947, which means that he celebrated his 78th birthday in 2025.

He was born in Plaistow, Essex, to East End docker dad Albert and Irish Traveller pianist mum Olive.

Essex and family moved to Canning Town when he was two. He went to Star Lane Primary School and went to Shipman County Secondary School.

After another move, this time to Marks Gate Estate, he went to The Warren secondary modern.

How did David Essex get into music?

David Essex and Elton John having just watched Watford beat West Ham 2-0 in the FA Cup. Picture: Alamy

David Essex's first love wasn't music but instead the beautiful game.

He actually played for West Ham United Juniors and wanted to eventually turn pro, but it wasn't to be.

His first foray into music saw him not front of stage but behind the kit, as the drummer for local band China Plates.

"It wasn't until I saw this guy playing the drums on telly that music really got through to me," Essex told Music Scene in December 1973.

"I thought, 'Wouldn't it be great to be able to do a fill on the drums like that guy?' From that time on I decided I was going to be a drummer."

He badgered his dad into buying him a kit and annoyed the family and neighbours with his playing. He even got suited an booted to play a wedding reception with that group.

David Essex - And The Tears Came Tumbling Down

Then he joined a proper band called The Everons to play local clubs, convincing them to play his beloved rhythm 'n' blues.

The group split before too long, but it was through that band that he met manager Derek Bowman, who urged him to go solo.

His early attempts weren't successful.

"It was pretty disastrous cos all I could do was blues numbers," Essex admitted. "And I was awful in the studio — I did little more than whisper."

His first single came in 1965 – the same year The Beatles released 'Ticket to Ride' and 'Help!' – with 'And The Tears Came Tumbling Down' on Fontana.

It wasn't a hit, and neither were the clutch of other singles he released before the end off the decade, despite him going on the road as David Essex and the Mood Indigo.

It was only after breaking through elsewhere in showbiz that Essex's pop career really took off.

What were David Essex's early stage and screen roles that made him a star before his music?

David Essex as Jesus in GODSPELL. Picture: Alamy

As his recording career trundled on with little impact, David Essex stretched his acting limbs.

He made blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearances in 1971 thriller Assault ("young man in chemist shop") and the next year's drama All Coppers Are... (as Ronnie Briggs... not Ronnie Biggs).

But everything changed in 1971 when David Essex was cast as the lead in stage musical Godspell, still aged just 23.

Loosely based on the Gospel of Matthew, Godspell had launched off-Broadway a year earlier with Stephen Nathan as Jesus, but when it came to London it was David Essex in that role, with Jeremy Irons as John the Baptist/Judas. Future Evita icon Julie Covington sang lead on 'Day by Day'.

Two years later, it was up on screen that Essex made a serious splash, starring as Jim MacLaine in That'll Be The Day and picking up a BAFTA nod for Most Promising Newcomer. That 1973 coming of age drama featured not just Ringo Starr, but also rockers Billy Fury, Keith Moon and John Hawken.

How did David Essex finally break through with 'Rock On'?

David Essex Rock On (music video)

With a bigger public profile now, 1973 was also the year that Essex released 'Rock On', which had featured on the US soundtrack of That'll Be The Day.

It wasn't just being a much more famous face that ensured the song would be a hit, or it appearing on the soundtrack to a successful film.

Written by Essex himself, 'Rock On' was one of the strangest, greatest singles not just of the year or the 1970s, but frankly in the history of rock 'n' roll.

Produced by Jeff Wayne (more on him later), it still sounds like a mind-bending juxtaposition of the future and the near-past, and finally made Essex a chart success.

In the UK it went to number three and sold a quarter of a million. In the US it went to number five and sold a cool million.

What are David Essex's biggest songs?

David Essex - Gonna Make You a Star (Live from Top of the Pops, 1974)

David Essex has released over 25 studio albums across his career, from his debut Rock On in 1973, all the way to Reflections in 2013.

His biggest (and otherwise important) songs include:

And the Tears Came Tumbling Down
She's Leaving Home
Rock On
Lamplight
America
Gonna Make You a Star
Stardust
Rolling Stone
Hold Me Close
If I Could
City Lights
Coming Home
Cool Out Tonight
Stay With Me Baby
Oh What A Circus
Brave New World
Imperial Wizard
Silver Dream Machine
Hot Love
Me and My Girl (Night-Clubbing)
A Winter's Tale
Tahiti
Falling Angels Riding
Myfanwy
True Love Ways (with Catherine Zeta-Jones)
Dance With Me

What were David Essex's other big movie, TV and stage roles?

STARDUST (1974) - Official Trailer

While he mainly focused on his music career after the success of 'Rock On', David Essex didn't completely give up his parallel career(s).

On the big screen he followed up That'll Be the Day with Stardust in 1974, a direct sequel that as well as the return of The Who's drummer Keith Moon, also saw the addition of Adam Faith, Marty Wilde, Dave Edmunds, Paul Nicholas and Eddie Byrnes.

Also in the cast was ex-I Dream of Jeanie and future JR Ewing Dallas megastar Larry Hagman.

After that the cinema roles dried up somewhat, but there was still motorcar film Silver Dream Racer in 1980 and crime flick The Guvnors in 2014.

On the small screen, David Essex led British sitcom The River, which lasted just one series of six episodes in 1988.

The Moons - Eastenders

Later TV roles included a one-off spot in Heartbeat and recurring role as Eddie Moon in EastEnders.

Given it was the stage that really made Essex a star, it felt right that some of his biggest success continued to be on the boards.

He was in the stage version of Tommy at the Rainbow in London, appeared as the Artillerymen in Jeff Wayne's musical version of The War of the Worlds in 1978.

It was Essex's vocals on 'The Artilleryman and the Fighting Machine' and 'Brave New World' on the album, which sold around 15 million copies around ther world.

When Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Evita was first performed, David Essex was cast as Che and scored a hit single with 'Oh What a Circus'. He earned a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Musical.

There were later roles in Childe Byron at the Young Vic and West End musical Mutiny!, which he co-wrote, before a return to Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War Of The Worlds in 2016, this time as the Voice of Humanity.

How many times has David Essex been married and how many children does he have?

David Essex with his wife Maureen and new born daughter Verity in 1971. Picture: Alamy

David Essex has been married three times, and has five children.

He wed Maureen Neal in 1971 and they had two children together. After they divorced in 1996, he married Carlotta Christy in 1997 and they had twins, before divorcing in 2009.

Essex married his third wife Susan Hallam-Wright in 1973 in 2010, and they have one child together.