David Leslie Gilson Lavis ( , born 27 June 1951,

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

) is an English drummer and portrait artist. He gained fame as the drummer with band Squeeze in the 1970s and 80s. Lavis is currently the drummer for

Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra (also known as Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra) is a rhythm and blues band led by boogie-woogie pianist Jools Holland. History Holland formed the band in 1994. In May 2022 the 17-piec ...

, with former Squeeze bandmate

Jools Holland Julian Miles Holland, (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Jayne County, Sting, Eric C ...

. Before joining Squeeze, he had already built up a substantial amount of experience, having toured with

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made ...

and

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman, known primarily for her work in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album d ...

. He was working in a brickyard when he noticed the advertisement in ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' for Squeeze. Lavis now tours around the United Kingdom with Jools Holland, his long-term musical partner. They both appeared (uncredited) as members of "The Nice Twelve" in the 1994 partially-

improvised comedy Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted: created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, a ...

film '' There's No Business...'' starring Raw Sex (

Simon Brint Simon Tracey Brint (26 September 1950 – 29 May 2011) was a British musician, best known for his role as part of the comedy duo Raw Sex with Rowland Rivron. He also composed for many British TV comedy and drama programmes. Early life Son of S ...

and

Rowland Rivron Rowland John Rivron (born 28 September 1958) is a British writer, comedic actor and television personality. Early career Rivron played the comic character "Dr Martin Scrote" on the Jonathan Ross chat show ''The Last Resort'', and also played Scr ...

) and

The Oblivion Boys The Oblivion Boys was a comedy double act primarily from the 1980s consisting of Mark Arden and Stephen Frost. As well as appearances on '' Saturday Live'', '' The Young Ones'' and ''The Black Adder'', they also became familiar to TV viewers in th ...

. Lavis is also a portrait artist having had several exhibitions in London and the

home counties The home counties are the counties of England that surround London. The counties are not precisely defined but Buckinghamshire and Surrey are usually included in definitions and Berkshire, Essex, Hertfordshire and Kent are also often inc ...

. He has painted numerous musicians including

Lily Allen Lily Rose Beatrice Allen (born 2 May 1985) is an English singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. Her music career began in 2005 when she made some of her vocal recordings publi ...

Paloma Faith Paloma Faith Blomfield (born 21 July 1981) is an English singer and actress. Her debut studio album, ''Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?,'' was released in 2009 and was certified double platinum in the UK. The album spawned the sing ...

Lulu Lulu may refer to: Companies * LuLu, an early automobile manufacturer * Lulu.com, an online e-books and print self-publishing platform, distributor, and retailer * Lulu Hypermarket, a retail chain in Asia * Lululemon Athletica or simply Lulu, a C ...

and

Smokey Robinson William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive director. He was the founder and front man of the Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief ...

References

External links

Official website
*

Gilson Lavis David Leslie Gilson Lavis ( , born 27 June 1951, Bedford, England) is an English drummer and portrait artist. He gained fame as the drummer with band Squeeze in the 1970s and 80s. Lavis is currently the drummer for Jools Holland's Rhythm and ...

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

* 1951 births Living people English rock drummers People from Bedford Squeeze (band) members Male actors from Bedfordshire Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra members {{UK-drummer-stub