David Alexander
Singer
David Alexander was born Derick Ebdon in 1938 in Blackwood, Monmouthshire - one of the great Welsh valleys voices, though his path to the stage began underground rather than on it. He left Bedwellty Grammar School at sixteen to help support his family, joining his father and eldest brother down the pit at Oakdale Colliery. It was while working at a factory in Cwmbran that he joined a local group, the Trenewydd Singers, and appeared with them on the television talent show Opportunity Knocks - his first taste of a wider audience.
He built his following the traditional way, singing in the working men's clubs of South Wales, before his recording career took off in February 1971 with the single If I Could See The Rhondda One More Time on Columbia, which sold around 200,000 copies. More than a dozen albums followed. His 1988 album Reflections became his best-selling release, shifting an extraordinary 800,000 copies and cementing his reputation as one of the most-loved voices to come out of the Valleys.
In 1991 he settled in Tenerife with Penny Page, whom he had met in 1976 and married in 1981. David Alexander died on 4 February 1995. His recordings remain in demand among Welsh music collectors to this day, and he is remembered as a generous supporter of charitable causes throughout his career.
