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'' ( ...

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 The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. It became a ...

. 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 ...

house with actor Vivian MacKerrell and film director

Bruce Robinson Bruce Robinson (born 2 May 1946) is an English actor, director, screenwriter and novelist. He wrote and directed the cult classic ''Withnail and I'' (1987), a film with comic and tragic elements set in London in the late 1960s, which drew on hi ...

. 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 Those years served as the basis for Robinson's unpublished memoir and the film ''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. Grant ...

'' (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 even ...

" 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 A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

for Brutus Jeans (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 ...

for his track "Sho Nuff" which was also used in an advertisement in 2006 for

SEAT Ibiza The SEAT Ibiza is a supermini car that has been manufactured by Spanish car manufacturer SEAT since 1984. It is SEAT's best-selling car. The Ibiza is named after the Spanish island of Ibiza and was the second SEAT model to be named after a Spa ...

. 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 ''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 ...

'' 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 Eugène de Rastignac () is a fictional character from , a series of novels by Honoré de Balzac. He appears as a main character in (1835), and his social advancement in the post-revolutionary French world depicted by Balzac can be followed throu ...

* 1968 ''

Prudence and the Pill ''Prudence and the Pill'' is a 1968 British comedy film made by Twentieth Century-Fox. It was directed by Fielder Cook and Ronald Neame and produced by Kenneth Harper and Ronald J. Kahn from a screenplay by Hugh Mills, based on his 1965 novel. ...

'' — Tony Bates * 1968 ''Boy Meets Girl'' (TV series) — Mic * 1969 ''

ITV Saturday Night Theatre ''ITV Sunday Night Theatre'', originally titled ''ITV Saturday Night Theatre'' and often shortened to simply ''Sunday Night Theatre'' or ''Saturday Night Theatre'', is a British television anthology series screened on ITV, and produced by London ...

'' (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 i ...

'' — Flight Lieutenant Douglas Shelton,

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

* 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 ...

'' (TV series) — Joe Brand * 1972 ''Shelley'' (TV movie) — Thomas Jefferson Hogg * 1973 ''Weir of Hermiston'' (TV series) — Frank Innes * 1975 ''

Churchill's People ''Churchill's People'' is a series of 26 historical dramas produced by the BBC, based on Winston Churchill's ''A History of the English-Speaking Peoples''. They were first broadcast on BBC1 in 1974 and 1975. It was produced to mark the centen ...

'' (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 George Richard Ian Howe (born 19 October 1949), known professionally as George Fenton, is an English composer. Best known for his work writing film scores and music for television, he has received five Academy Award nominations, several Ivor No ...

. * 1972 ''Weir of Hermiston'', BBC Scotland. * 1982 ''

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

'' — music for the launch of

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

, used for over ten years but no longer featured on the channel. * 1983 ''Daybreak'' — start up music for

TV-am TV-am was a TV company that broadcast the ITV franchise for breakfast television in the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 until 31 December 1992. The station was the UK's first national operator of a commercial breakfast television franchis ...

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 by ...

in which robotic arms spray a pristine white lily with colouring and perfume; * 1987 ''

'', original score; * 1989 ''

How to Get Ahead in Advertising ''How to Get Ahead in Advertising'' is a 1989 British black comedy fantasy film written and directed by Bruce Robinson and starring Richard E. Grant and Rachel Ward. The title is a pun and can be literally taken as "How to Get a ''Head'' in Adv ...

'', 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 by English Markell Pockett (and later used in the idents for

Border Television ITV Border, previously Border Television and commonly referred to as simply Border, is the ITV (TV network), Channel 3 service provided by ITV (TV channel), ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Anglo-Scottish border, England/Scotland border region, ...

in the mid-1990s, it was also used for

Tyne Tees Television ITV Tyne Tees, previously known as Tyne Tees, Channel 3 North East and Tyne Tees Television, is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. Tyne Tees launched on 15 January 1959 from studios at a converte ...

'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 hi ...

'', 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 ITV 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