Lord David Paul Nicholas Dundas (born 2 June 1945) is an English musician and actor, best known for his chart success in the

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

genre during the 1970s as well as his later career in film and television scores.

Biography

Dundas was born in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, the second son of

Lawrence Dundas, 3rd Marquess of Zetland Lawrence Aldred Mervyn Dundas, 3rd Marquess of Zetland (12 November 1908 – 5 October 1989) was a lawn tennis player of some note in the 1940s, known before 1961 as the Earl of Ronaldshay. Dundas performed at the All England Championships, W ...

, and his wife Penelope Pike. As a younger son of a marquess, he is entitled to the courtesy title 'Lord'. He was educated at Harrow and the Central School of Speech and Drama. While at the Central School, Dundas shared a

Camden Town Camden Town (), often shortened to Camden, is a district of northwest London, England, north of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Camden, and identified in the London Plan as o ...

house with actor

Vivian MacKerrell Vivian Alan James MacKerrell (23 May 1944 – 2 March 1995) was a British actor of the 1960s and 1970s. He was the basis for the character of Withnail in the film ''Withnail and I''. Early life Vivian MacKerrell was the son of Janetta Mary Boyn ...

and film director Bruce Robinson. The house on Albert Street had been bought by his parents for him to live in, eventually according to Dundas himself "15 people were living there - there were three bedrooms". Those years served as the basis for Robinson's unpublished memoir and the film ''

Withnail & I ''Withnail and I'' is a 1987 British black comedy film written and directed by Bruce Robinson. Loosely based on Robinson's life in London in the late 1960s, the plot follows two unemployed actors, Withnail and "I" (portrayed by Richard E. Gran ...

'' (1987). Dundas co-wrote the score for the film, considered "one of Britain's biggest cult films". On 17 December 1971, Dundas married Corinna Maeve Wolfe Scott, and they had two children. They divorced in 1995. Dundas then married Taina Bettina Breuckmann on 21 November 1997, and they had one son.

Musical career

His 1976 single "

Jeans On "Jeans On" is a song by British musician David Dundas from his 1977 self-titled debut album. Released as a single the previous year, it was first featured as a television advertising jingle for Brutus Jeans. The popularity of the commercial event ...

" reached No. 3 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, No. 17 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and No. 1 in the German Singles Chart, where the song remained 19 weeks in the Top Ten.Günter Ehnert: ''Hit Bilanz. Deutsche Chart Singles 1956 - 1980. Hamburg: Taurus Press 1990, p. 65 The song originally appeared as a television advertising jingle for

Brutus Jeans Brutus Jeans is a British clothing company founded in 1966 by brothers Keith and Alan Freedman, who were 18 and 17 years old at the time, respectively. The company started with one style of sweater and kept adding to the range, which eventually inc ...

(the words used in the jingle - "I pull my Brutus jeans on" - were replaced with "I pull my old blue jeans on" for the single release). The single was later sampled by

Fatboy Slim Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist f ...

for his track "Sho Nuff" which was also used in an advertisement in 2006 for SEAT Ibiza. Dundas's follow-up single, "Another Funny Honeymoon" was a medium-sized hit, reaching No. 29 in the UK. Dundas performed the song live on the

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

show, ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'', in 1977. A later single, "Where Were You Today", based on a C&A radio commercial ("Come and C and A" being replaced by the song title) was less successful. Jingles made by Dundas for Capital Radio were played daily on the station in the 1970s: "Grab a little piece of heaven, with Roger Scott from 3 to 7" and "Get a little soft rock, country, blues, with Tony Myatt from 11 to 2".

Discography

Albums

* 1977 ''David Dundas'' (AUS No. 82) * 1978 ''Vertical Hold'' * 1987 '' Withnail and I'' otion Picture Soundtrack

Singles

Film and television (as an actor)

* 1968 ''City '68'' (TV series) — Tony Lambert * 1968 ''A Man of our Times'' (TV series) — Roy * 1968 ''Pere Goriot'' (TV mini-series) — Eugène de Rastignac * 1968 '' Prudence and the Pill'' — Tony Bates * 1968 ''Boy Meets Girl'' (TV series) — Mic * 1969 '' ITV Saturday Night Theatre'' (TV series) — Matthew Fairchild * 1969 ''

Mosquito Squadron ''Mosquito Squadron'' is a 1969 British war film made by Oakmont Productions, directed by Boris Sagal and starring David McCallum. The raid echoes Operation Jericho, a combined RAF–Maquis raid which freed French prisoners from Amiens jail in ...

'' — Flight Lieutenant Douglas Shelton, RAF * 1971 ''

Paul Temple Paul Temple is a fictional character created by English writer Francis Durbridge. Temple is a professional author of crime fiction and an amateur private detective. With his wife Louise, affectionately known as 'Steve' in reference to her jo ...

'' (TV series) — Joe Brand * 1972 ''Shelley'' (TV movie) — Thomas Jefferson Hogg * 1973 ''Weir of Hermiston'' (TV series) — Frank Innes * 1975 '' Churchill's People'' (TV series) — Prince Edward * 1986 '' When the Wind Blows'' — credited as an actor

Film and television (as a musician)

* 1971 ''Private Road'' — co-wrote original score with Michael Feast and George Fenton. * 1972 ''Weir of Hermiston'', BBC Scotland. * 1982 '' Fourscore'' — music for the launch of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

, used for over ten years but no longer featured on the channel. * 1983 ''Daybreak'' — start up music for TV-am in its early years, also used as the theme to the hour-long early morning news programme of the same name (also on TV-am), initially presented by

Robert Kee Robert Kee (5 October 1919 – 11 January 2013) was a British broadcaster, journalist and writer, known for his historical works on World War II and Ireland. Life and career He was educated at Stowe School, Buckingham, and read history ...

; * 1986 'Gilding the Lily' — piano score in the style of

Erik Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an und ...

for the iconic TV commercial for

Simple skincare Simple Skincare is a British brand of soap and skincare products designed for sensitive skin. Simple has been owned by Unilever since 2010. History The brand was developed in 1960 by the Albion Group. In the late 1980s the business was acquired b ...

in which robotic arms spray a pristine white lily with colouring and perfume; * 1987 '' Withnail and I'', original score; * 1989 '' How to Get Ahead in Advertising'', co-wrote original score with

Rick Wentworth Rick Wentworth is a British film and TV composer, conductor, orchestrator and arranger. Composer His work in film began with composing the score for ''Withnail and I'', directed by Bruce Robinson in 1987, followed by Robinson's second film ''H ...

; * 1989 ''Get Ready'' — for the rebranding of

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

by English Markell Pockett (and later used in the idents for Border Television in the mid-1990s, it was also used for Tyne Tees Television's non ITV generic idents from 1991–92); * 1992 ''

Freddie as F.R.O.7 ''Freddie as F.R.O.7'' (also known as ''Freddie the Frog'') is a 1992 British animated musical action fantasy comedy film written and directed by Jon Acevski and starring the voice of Ben Kingsley. Inspired by bedtime stories Acevski told to his s ...

'', co-wrote original score with

. * c. 1993 Television commercials for the Kraft General Foods, Inc. product, "Country Time Lemonade Drink Mix" featured a Dundas composition called "I Keep Your Picture" as background music. * 1998 — another

rebranding, under the title "Television from the Heart", for FutureBrand English & Pockett.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dundas, Lord David 1945 births Living people Musicians from Oxford Younger sons of marquesses People educated at Harrow School Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama British soft rock musicians English male singers English male actors English composers English people of Scottish descent Chrysalis Records artists Jingle composers