David Vanian
Encyclopedia
Dave Vanian is a rock
musician
, famous for being the lead singer of the punk rock
band
The Damned. The band formed in 1976 in London and Vanian is the only ever-present member of the group. They were the first of the British punk bands to release a single
, an album
, have a record hit the UK charts, and tour the United States.
Lett changed his name to Dave Vanian when he became a musician, having previously worked as a gravedigger
.
He is famous for bringing the gothic
image to pop
culture
world, due to his wearing its clothing both on-stage and off. In November 1976, the British music magazine, NME
, commented that Vanian "resembles a runaway from The Addams Family
".
Notorious also for keeping his personal life out of the limelight, even opting out of any input towards The Damned biography The Light At The End Of The Tunnel by Carol Clerk, he also leads the rockabilly
band David Vanian & the Phantom Chords. He is known to be interested in renaissance art, film noir
and horror movies.
Vanian hosted Dave Vanian's Dark Screen on the UK-based television
channel Rockworld TV
, to which viewers sent their self-made horror films in the hope of winning prizes.
In 2004, he and Captain Sensible
turned on the Christmas lights in Cambridge
, causing some controversy.
In 2009, he composed the soundtrack
for the film
, The Perfect Sleep.
bassist Patricia Morrison
and lives in north-west London. In 2004 Morrison gave birth to Emily Vanian.
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, famous for being the lead singer of the punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
The Damned. The band formed in 1976 in London and Vanian is the only ever-present member of the group. They were the first of the British punk bands to release a single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, an album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, have a record hit the UK charts, and tour the United States.
Career
Gravedigger
A gravedigger is a cemetery worker responsible for digging graves used in the process of burial.-Fossors:Fossor or Fossarius , from the Latin verb fodere 'to dig', referred to grave diggers in the Roman catacombs in the first three centuries of the Christian Era...
.
He is famous for bringing the gothic
Goth subculture
The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...
image to pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
world, due to his wearing its clothing both on-stage and off. In November 1976, the British music magazine, NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
, commented that Vanian "resembles a runaway from The Addams Family
The Addams Family
The Addams Family is a group of fictional characters created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. As named by Charles Addams, the Addams Family characters include Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Lurch, Grandmama, Wednesday, Pugsley, and Thing....
".
Notorious also for keeping his personal life out of the limelight, even opting out of any input towards The Damned biography The Light At The End Of The Tunnel by Carol Clerk, he also leads the rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
band David Vanian & the Phantom Chords. He is known to be interested in renaissance art, film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
and horror movies.
Vanian hosted Dave Vanian's Dark Screen on the UK-based television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
channel Rockworld TV
Rockworld TV
Rockworld TV was a British television channel which featured rock music, and was aimed to highlight "underground" lifestyles and artists.It broadcasted on Sky Digital ch. 378, and also streamed content online...
, to which viewers sent their self-made horror films in the hope of winning prizes.
In 2004, he and Captain Sensible
Captain Sensible
Captain Sensible is a singer, songwriter, guitarist who grew up in Croydon, England, and co-founded the punk rock band The Damned in 1976. After leaving the band, he reinvented himself as an alternative pop singer with a rebellious, self-conscious image...
turned on the Christmas lights in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, causing some controversy.
In 2009, he composed the soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
for the film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, The Perfect Sleep.
Personal life
He married Laurie Vanian in 1977, the year after he joined The Damned, but they separated in the mid 1990s. Not long after their split, he married former Sisters of MercyThe Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy are an English rock band that formed in 1980. After achieving early underground fame in UK, the band had their commercial breakthrough in mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasing new recorded output in protest against their record company...
bassist Patricia Morrison
Patricia Morrison
Patricia Morrison is an American bass guitarist, singer and songwriter. She worked with The Bags, The Gun Club, The Sisters of Mercy, and The Damned.-Biography:...
and lives in north-west London. In 2004 Morrison gave birth to Emily Vanian.