Big Interview: Music icon David Essex on playing Belfast, why he never felt like a sex symbol, and his Irish Traveller roots

But for someone who has been photographed thousands of times, the star says he’s always hated getting his picture taken.

“I understand it has to be done, but I do hate it. In the 70s, there were so many photographic sessions for Jackie Magazine and everything."

David Essex is in Belfast to promote his forthcoming concert at the Waterfront Hall next month, the last in a 26-date tour around the UK.

“Belfast is a perfect place to finish. I'm looking forward to it very much. I've always come to Belfast throughout the 70s, and all the time I've come over, it's been very warm and very welcoming."

Cutting a low-key figure in a baseball cap and navy jacket, adorned with a poppy pin, he says the concert promises a mix of material.

"We’ll be doing some of the earlier records, Hold Me Close, Rock On, Gonna Make You A Star, Super Green Machine and some theatrical pieces.

"I’ll be joined by my band. They're fantastic players, they don't really tour, they're writers and producers in their own right, but I call them up and say, ‘do you want to come on holiday?’ They say, ‘yeah, we'll get together’, and away we go.”

Before going on stage Essex has a cup of tea, he’s never done vocal warm-ups, even for theatre, and feels blessed that his vocal range is still the same as it was 50 years ago.

"I still sing in the same key. I'm very lucky. Gonna Make You a Star is a bit high, but no, it's all good.”

And he always gives it “100 per cent” on stage.

“I just have the feeling of responsibility to the person that's come to see the show. The fact that they've bought the tickets, brought the car, brought the family, and so that's motivation to always try and give 100%, whether it's a show or a concert. That's always the thing I've had in the back of my mind.”

A David Essex concert used to be like a giant hen do with screaming, besotted girls, but the audience profile has changed.

“Well, in the old days it used to be like being in the SAS trying to get out (with women fans). It was unbelievable. Now it's quite a mixed crowd. There's a lot more men than there used to be. And people who were brought up on my music, bring their kids, so it's very, very nice. ​There's even a little old lady of 90 who comes and writes me letters now and again. It's lovely.”

Essex comes across as shy and self-deprecating, so did his sex symbol status ever annoy him?

"No, because I've never felt like one. It's not the reason I got involved in music or acting.

​I didn't really get fed up. I just got a little bit frustrated that that's how some people just saw me. And in some ways it stopped people listening to the things I've done.”

Essex was propelled to stardom after being chosen to play the role of Jesus in the hit musical Godspell in 1971 and has gone on to enjoy a remarkable career spanning more than 50 years, that has combined concerts, records, theatre, composing, films and television.

He has written, recorded and produced albums and singles that have sold millions of copies worldwide - 23 Top 30 singles in Britain alone, which included chart toppers Hold Me Close, Silver Dream Machine, Oh What A Circus, from Evita and many more. In the USA he was nominated for a Grammy award for Rock On.

In spite of a lower profile in recent years, he has continued to tour and after some years as an ambassador for Voluntary Service Overseas, was awarded an OBE for his services to charity.

Born David Albert Cook in 1947, he grew up an only child in Plaistow, east London, in a house “filled with music”; his mum, Dolly, played “an old pump piano”.

And he feels an umbilical connection to Ireland.

“My grandfather was from Cork and he was a gypsy. He came over to England, met my grandmother and they got married."

He’s proud of his roots, but feels that sometimes Travellers get a bad press.

“Well, I think there's good and bad. There are some really nasty bits of work and that’s what makes the headlines. But, I don't think you can generalise about Gypsies or Travellers. It's a way of life that's gone on for years and I think it needs to be protected.”

On a personal level, Essex can relate to the Travellers’ way of life.

“With the gigs, it's like you're travelling all the time, even with theatre tours. You're in a different city for a week, and then on to the next one, so I think it's kind of in my blood somewhere, really.”

And Essex, who left school at 14, admits when he was younger, he did feel a certain restlessness.

“I'm becoming less restless, because I'm 77. But I was always trying to get to tomorrow, today, and that's why I've done so many different, diverse things. And it's probably the secret to any longevity that I've had, working in film, theatre and music. Because I do different things, people don't get bored with me in one particular field.”

And if it hadn’t worked out in the entertainment industry, he would have sought a job which gave him “lots of freedom”.

"Maybe a long distance lorry driver, that would have suited me.”

A song the audience in Belfast will be looking forward to singing along to is his 1982 single, A Winter’s Tale, which became a Christmas hit, but was never written with that intention.

“It's not a Christmas song at all. I don't know why it's a Christmas song. It's not got sleigh bells in and all that. I try to avoid the supermarkets (at Christmas) because it's always wafting over the delicatessen.

​"I think it's because it came out in the autumn, and for some reason it was adopted as a Christmas song, but I didn't write it, so it's not my fault,” he laughs.

"It was written by Mike Batt and Tim Rice, but it was my idea, the juxtaposition of the changes in the relationship, equating to the changes in the seasons.”

Will A Winter’s Tale be playing in the Essex household at Christmas as they tuck into their dinner? He bursts into fits of laughter.

"Yeah, we play it on Christmas morning and then for three days solid,” he jokes.

David Essex grew up listening to blues musicians like Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf, and these days listens to a lot of modern country music.

“I think simply because they're real songs. I mean, a lot of the lyrics are about drinking whiskey and sleeping in a truck, but apart from that, they're pretty good.”

He also enjoys being in his home studio with his 10-year-old son to third wife, Welsh actress Susan Hallam-Wright.

​"My son's a terrific guitarist. He's always banging around in the studio. We rehearse there. I don't really trouble about writing songs now, because I just don't.”

Outside of music, he enjoys spending time with his five kids and seven grandkids, riding his motorbike “on a good summer’s day" and gardening.

Looking back over his career, he says he wishes he’d spent more time in the US.

“​I had hit records in America, but I never toured there. I don't lose sleep over it. I've been very privileged to do so many different things."

*David Essex will perform at Belfast’s Waterfront Hall on December 11, 2024.