Dave King (December 11, 1961 in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

) is an Irish singer, musician and songwriter. He is currently a member of the band

Flogging Molly Flogging Molly is an Irish-American seven-piece Celtic punk bandLife Is Good Out Now
Floggingmolly.c ...

, of which he is a founding member. He first gained notability as the original lead singer of hard rock band Fastway in the 1980s.

Roots and early life

King grew up in a small two-room flat in

Beggars Bush, Dublin Beggars Bush () is the site of the former Beggars Bush Barracks on Haddington Road in the inner southern suburbs of Dublin, Ireland, as well the surrounding area and a nearby pub. The barracks were bordered to the east by Shelbourne Road, whic ...

tenement that had once been part of

Beggars Bush Barracks Beggars Bush Barracks was a British Army barracks located at Beggars Bush in Dublin, Ireland. History The barracks were designed as a training depot for the British Army and were completed in 1827, built on lands received from George Herbert, 11 ...

. When he was around the age of six or seven his parents bought him a guitar. King remembers being called inside by his mother to watch

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

perform " Starman" on television, which he cites as one of many influences along with Luke Kelly,

Joe Strummer John Graham Mellor (21 August 1952 – 22 December 2002), known professionally as Joe Strummer, was a British singer, musician and songwriter. He was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and co-lead vocalist of punk rock band the Clash, f ...

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his c ...

, and

Freddie Mercury Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer and songwriter, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. Regarded as one of the greatest singers in the ...

to name a few. King's father died when he was 10 years old. He left Dublin in his twenties, briefly residing in London and then on to Los Angeles where he first joined Fastway and later formed

Flogging Molly Flogging Molly is an Irish-American seven-piece Celtic punk bandLife Is Good Out Now
Floggingmolly.c ...

with Ted Hutt, Jeff Peters, and Bridget Regan. After emigrating to the United States, he was without a "green card" for eight years. King was not able to visit his home or family in Ireland during this time for fear that

immigration laws Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, an ...

would prevent his return to the United States. This separation from his homeland and his mother is thought to be a contributing factor in many of Flogging Molly's early song lyrics, with many of the songs alluding to King's time in "exile".

Career

Flogging Molly – Reload Festival 2015 09

King's professional career began in the early 1980s when he was hired as the vocalist for Fastway, an English hard rock band formed by ex-

Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 by Lemmy (lead vocals, bass), Larry Wallis (guitar) and Lucas Fox (drums). Lemmy was also the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band are often considered a prec ...

guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke and ex-

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are ide ...

bassist

Pete Way Peter Frederick Way (7 August 1950 – 14 August 2020) was an English hard rock and heavy metal bassist. He was bassist for the rock band UFO from 1968 to 1982; Way rejoined the band briefly in 1988–1989, and full-time from 1991 to 2008. H ...

in 1983. They recorded their first four records with King on vocals, as well as a live record. When Fastway was ostensibly disbanded (Eddie carried on the name with all new members), King formed Katmandu with

Mandy Meyer Armand "Mandy" Meyer (born August 29 1960) is a Swiss-Canadian guitarist best known for being a member of the hard rock band Gotthard, the progressive rock band Asia, and the heavy metal band Krokus. Meyer has also worked with Cobra, Stealin' H ...

(former member of the band Krokus) and Mike Alonso, (former member of the Detroit-based band Speedball), who released one self-titled album. The band had a couple of minor hits but later disbanded. King retained a record deal with Epic records, who wanted him to sing for

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock guitarist. He rose to prominence with the Yardbirds and after fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to a mainly instrumental style, with a fo ...

, but he declined. He started working with forming the band

Flogging Molly Flogging Molly is an Irish-American seven-piece Celtic punk bandLife Is Good Out Now
Floggingmolly.c ...

, with new material that had a distinct Irish sound, but still retaining the hard driving, loud and fast musical style. He asked to be let out of his Epic contract because "they wouldn't know what to do with the new music anyways..." Since then, Flogging Molly has reached position No. 4 on the Billboard charts top 200 and a No. 1 on the Billboard Indie Chart.

Personal life

King is married to fellow musician and bandmate Bridget Regan. After years together, the two married in a private ceremony in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

, Japan, while on tour in 2008. King is an avid supporter of

Manchester United 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 ...

, and has the club's logo tattooed on his chest.

References

External links

Flogging Molly official websiteMSNBC article
{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Dave 1961 births Living people 20th-century American male singers 20th-century Irish male singers 20th-century guitarists 21st-century American male singers 21st-century Irish male singers 21st-century guitarists American male guitarists American rock guitarists American rock singers Bodhrán players Fastway (band) members Flogging Molly members Irish emigrants to the United States Irish male guitarists Irish rock guitarists Irish rock singers Musicians from Dublin (city)