You know you're getting old when... you find out that the immaculately-flicked-hair-n-tight-trousers popstrel David Van Day of Dollar is 62 years old!
Mr Van Day, together with his on-off girlfriend Thereza Bazar, first came to fame as part of the cheesiest of cheesy "manufactured bands" of the 1970s Guys'n'Dolls, whose biggest and most enduring number was this one - which actually began life as an advertising jingle for McVitie's biscuits:
Having left the group [due to a clash of hairstyles, or something], the couple formed the pop duo known as Dollar - and went on to have a successful career that spanned over a decade! It all began with this faboo number [and look out for the trousers; as if you could miss 'em...]:
After a flush of hits the band's [shooting?] star was somewhat on the wane - but by lucky happenstance, none other than "former Buggle" Trevor Horn [who had only recently quit as a member of Yes] agreed to produce some new material for them and [among a number of hits in the "era of cool"; the early 80s] this was the result:
Of course, once everyone else in the pop world - notably at this stage ABC, but later Grace Jones, Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Pet Shop Boys - noticed what a brilliant producer Mr Horn really was and clambered to get him on board, the toothsome duo was soon dropped. Thereza and David's on-off relationship also ended at this time, and for a while they stayed apart. Then came a bit of a reunion, and another very clever choice of song to cover [courtesy of Erasure], and the pair had their last, triumphal stab at the upper echelons of the charts with this guaranteed gay club floor-filler:
The "Dollar story" has never hit such heights since. Mr Van Day has progressed from selling burgers out of a van by day and performing with a cobbled-together version of another former hit outfit Buck's Fizz by night, to appearing on numerous reality TV shows [a couple of which featured his and Thereza's attempts to stage a comeback; one of which featured Mr Van Day in a jungle - needless to say, I never watched any of 'em], to taking his own creaking and Miss-Bazar-free version of Dollar on a tour of increasingly small venues.
However, without Dollar in our lives at the turn of the 70s-to-80s, that particular era in music would have been a lot, lot less glittery - and for that enduring legacy we thank them!
Many happy returns, Mr David Van Day (born 28th November 1956)
