David Essex – ‘Gonna Make You A Star’

21 November 1974

If you were a mid-’70s pop fan whose taste in male teen idols ran to something more mature and worldly than David Cassidy or some random Osmond, then doe-eyed David Essex would well have been your pin-up of choice. And since his mother was from an Irish family, we can also claim a bit of vicarious national glory and add him to the roll-call of Irish diaspora pop stars. Furthermore, as Mother Essex had a Mincéir family background, David Essex joins the Fureys, Shayne Ward and Chris Doran on the short but important list of acts with Irish Traveller heritage who’ve topped the Irish singles charts.

Was David Essex more than a pretty face? Well, that’s the opening question posed by ‘Gonna Make You A Star’. Roxy Music fan than I am, I dig the opening Eno-esque synths and Ferry-ish vocals. The song, written by Essex, has plenty of singalong lines and memorable hooks, not to mention double handclaps. Jeff Wayne’s production kicks on from the stomping bubblegum glam of Essex’s peers to continue down that Roxy line in sophisticated pop. And Essex himself infuses the track with irrepressible exuberance without ever losing his swagger or cool. I could have done without the happy-go-lucky whistling at the start and the stage-Cockney “I don’t think so!” in response to the climactic reprise of our opening question; this hints at the variety-show and music theatre that lurks in the heart of all British pop, as well as Essex’s own parallel West End career. That said, ‘Gonna Make You A Star’ is a hugely enjoyable ’70s chart artefact. Swoon!

Coda. Lest anyone sneer at the Cassidy-Osmond-Essex brand of winsome, wholesome ’70s pop idol, Ireland’s Christmas number one and final chart-topper of 1974 was by a prominent singer who earlier that year already had a number one here, but years later was convicted as a bad ‘un – perhaps the signature bad ‘un of that decade. It’s listed in the By date section if you need to know. You’d like to think things have improved since then, but, well, you know yourself.