Dave Formula (born David Tomlinson 11 August 1946,

Whalley Range, Manchester Whalley Range is an area of Manchester, England, about southwest of the city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 15,430. Historically in Lancashire, it was one of the earliest of the city's suburbs, built by local businessman Samuel ...

, England), is an English keyboardist and film-soundtrack composer from

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, who played with the

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

bands

Magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

and Visage during the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s and in the "world music" band The Angel Brothers.

Biography

Early Years and St. Louis Union

He lived his early youth in Whalley Range, Manchester. He worked under the name of David Tomlinson and achieved some success back in the mid-sixties with the R&B

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

band St. Louis Union, including appearances on ''

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 ...

'' and in the film '' The Ghost Goes Gear'' (also featuring the

Spencer Davis Group The Spencer Davis Group were a British band formed in Birmingham in 1963 by Spencer Davis (guitar), brothers Steve Winwood (keyboards, guitar) and Muff Winwood (bass guitar), and Pete York (drums). Their best known songs include the UK numbe ...

); at the time he formed the group, he was working as an apprentice television engineer. Later he was a cabaret musician and before joining Magazine, he shared a flat with record producer

Martin Hannett James Martin Hannett (31 May 1948 – 18 April 1991), initially credited as Martin Zero, was an English record producer, musician and an original partner/director at Tony Wilson's Factory Records. Hannett produced music by artists including Joy ...

Magazine

Formula was a member of

, joining in 1978 after the departure of Bob Dickinson and the release of their debut single "

Shot By Both Sides "Shot by Both Sides" is a song written by Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley, and performed by the English post-punk band Magazine. It was released in January 1978 as the band's first single, reaching No. 41 on the UK Singles Chart and appearing, a ...

", until the band's breakup in 1981. His multi-layered keyboard sounds, made with equipment such as the Yamaha CP70

electric grand piano The electric grand piano is a stringed musical instrument played using a keyboard, in which the vibration of strings struck by hammers is converted by pickups into electrical signals, analogous to the electric guitar's electrification of the trad ...

Hammond B-3 The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated ...

, an ARP Odyssey, a Yamaha SS30 string synth and on later albums a

Prophet 5 The Prophet-5 is an analog synthesizer manufactured by the American company Sequential. It was designed by Dave Smith and John Bowen in 1977, who used microprocessors, then a new technology, to create the first polyphonic synthesizer with full ...

, were a defining part of the band. Magazine reformed in February 2009 with Formula returning to play keyboards.

Visage

Formula joined

New Romantic The New Romantic movement was an underground subculture movement that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The movement emerged from the nightclub scene in London and Birmingham at venues such as Billy's and The Blitz. The New ...

ensemble Ensemble may refer to: Art * Architectural ensemble * Ensemble (album), ''Ensemble'' (album), Kendji Girac 2015 album * Ensemble (band), a project of Olivier Alary * Ensemble cast (drama, comedy) * Ensemble (musical theatre), also known as the ...

Visage with

John McGeoch John Alexander McGeoch (25 August 1955 – 4 March 2004) was a Scottish musician and songwriter. He is best known as the guitarist of the rock bands Magazine (1977-1980) and Siouxsie and the Banshees (1980-1982). He has been described as one ...

and

Barry Adamson Barry Adamson (born 11 June 1958)Biography
. Barryadamson.com. is an English pop and rock music ...

in 1978; he played on their first two albums, '' Visage'' and '' The Anvil''. He left the group in 1983 after having some differences with drummer

Rusty Egan Rusty Egan (born 19 September 1957 in London) is the former drummer for the British new wave band Rich Kids. They were founded by former Sex Pistol Glen Matlock (bass guitarist and backing vocals, occasional lead vocals), with Steve New ( ...

regarding the musical style of their third album.

Ludus

Formula was a performing and songwriting member of

Ludus Ludus may refer to: * ''Ludus'' (ancient Rome) (plural ''ludi''), several meanings around "play, game, sport, training" **''Ludi'', public games held for the benefit and entertainment of the Roman people * Luduș, a town in Transylvania, Romania ...

in 1982 and remained for at least five years.

The Angel Brothers

Whilst lecturing in popular music, Formula met up with Keith Angel, Dave Angel & Andy Seward which eventually led to him joining the "world music" band The Angel Brothers in 2003, playing on their two critically acclaimed albums ''Punjab To Pit Top'' and ''Forbidden Fruit''.

Design For Living

After his stint with Magazine, he formed part of a band called Design For Living.

Solo album

In January 2007 Formula began working on a solo album. Recording has been at his own Red Bird Studios. Entitled ''Satellite Sweetheart'', it features over 30 guest musicians. The list includes almost all the members of Magazine –

Howard Devoto Howard Devoto (born Howard Andrew Trafford, 15 March 1952) is a retired English singer and songwriter, who began his career as the frontman for punk rock band Buzzcocks, but then left to form Magazine, one of the first post-punk bands. After M ...

Barry Adamson Barry Adamson (born 11 June 1958)Biography
. Barryadamson.com. is an English pop and rock music ...

, John Doyle,

(posthumously) and

Robin Simon Robin Simon (born 12 July 1956) is a British guitarist who was a member of Ultravox, Magazine and Visage. Biography Early career Robin Simon played guitar in a number of local Halifax based bands in the early to mid-1970s. The bands include ...

- as well singer/ songwriter Robert Wyatt, Swing Out Sister's Corrine Drury, Dennis Rollins and Joel Purnell. The release was delayed due to Magazine's 2009 activity and the album was released in February 2010 on Wire Sound. A video of the collaboration with Howard Devoto; "Via Sacra" is on YouTube

Discography

* ''Satellite Sweetheart'' album (release February 2010)

References

External links

Dave Formula's new recording studio, The Sweet Factory

Dave Formula on Facebook

Dave Formula & The Finks on Facebook

Dave Formula's site on MySpace

wire-sound – Dave Formula
Official blog-web site

Dave Formula Photograph 2009 *

AllMusic Guide profile 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 ...

PunkNet '77 entry for Magazine
* AllMusic entry for Magazine
TrouserPress entry for Magazine

{{DEFAULTSORT:Formula, Dave Musicians from Manchester English composers English keyboardists English new wave musicians Magazine (band) members British post-punk musicians People from Whalley Range Living people 1946 births Visage (band) members