DAVID MCWILLIAMS: David McWilliams, who died on January 9th aged 56, wrote and recorded one of the classics of 1960s rock music. The Days of Pearly Spencer, along with Them's Gloria and Bluesville's You Turn Me On, marked the arrival of Irish rock 'n' roll on the world stage.
Ironically, David McWilliams's recording of the song, first made in 1967, was never a British chart hit. A quarter-of-a-century elapsed before a cover version by Marc Almond of Soft Cell entered the British Top Ten, reaching number four.
The Days Of Pearly Spencer was based on a homeless man in Ballymena who was befriended by David McWilliams. The song reflected the writer's deep humanity and his empathy with those who live on the margins of society.
David McWilliams was born on July 4th, 1945, in the Cregagh area of Belfast, one of eight children of Sam and Molly McWilliams. When he was three, the family moved to Ballymena where he attended the Model School and then the local technical school after which he began an apprenticeship at an engineering works in Antrim town that manufactured torpedoes.
For David McWilliams, however, making music came first. Inspired by Sam Cooke and Buddy Holly, he learned to play the guitar in his early teens. He was later a founder-member of the Coral Showband (named after Holly's record label).
When he began writing his own material, friends suggested that he should record a demo disc. On hearing the tapes, the impresario Mervyn Solomons contacted his brother Philip of Major Minor Records.
Philip Solomons and his colleague Tommy Scott immediately recognised David McWilliams's potential.
His début single God and My Country was issued in 1966, and in 1967 The Days of Pearly Spencer was released. Featuring distorted vocals through the use of a megaphone as in The New Vaudeville's Band Winchester Cathedral, the record won David McWilliams much-deserved recognition.
Before the year 1967 was out, he had recorded three albums of his own compositions, an extraordinary feat of creativity given that some of today's top artists take three years to record one album.
These early albums were marked by a consistency of quality that propelled them into the British Top 40. Backing himself on six- and 12-string guitar, David McWilliams benefited greatly from the arrangements and orchestration provided by Mike Leander, who had worked with both Phil Spector and the Rolling Stones.
In all, he released nine albums of which two were compilations. Apart from Pearly Spencer, his best-known songs include Harlem Lady and Three O'Clock Flamingo Street.
David McWilliams undertook concert tours with the Dubliners which were compèred by his friend Dominic Behan. He attracted a large following in mainland Europe and was particularly popular in France, Holland (topping the charts in both countries) and Italy.
In the 1970s he moved to London where he was briefly managed by an associate of the notorious landlord Peter Rachman. It was neither a happy nor fruitful relationship and in 1988 he wrote the following dedication for an album track, Landlord, Landlord: "For all the Rachmans of this world. We're gonna get ya."
On one occasion at a party in London, David McWilliams accidentally broke a prized Appalachian lap dulcimer owned by Billy Connolly. Mortified, he asked how he could best make amends. Connolly replied that a copy of his latest album for his brother, a keen fan, would be more than adequate.
As well as being an accomplished musician, David McWilliams was a talented footballer who, in different circumstances, might have joined a Cregagh-born contemporary, George Best, in the professional ranks. Signed by Linfield FC from amateur side Harryville, he immediately became the first-team goalkeeper. Unfortunately, an ankle injury kept him out of the game for four months by which time his musical career had taken off.
David McWilliams was quiet and self-effacing. He was ill at ease in the world of showbusiness and he had an intense dislike for the glitter and hype of the music industry. He was more at home playing in the Fourways Inn, Ballymena, than in the Royal Albert Hall.
As with many singer-songwriters of his generation he lost out on the publishing rights to his music. This, it is estimated, cost him in the region of £2 million sterling.
Twenty years ago, he moved to Ballycastle, Co Antrim, where he concentrated on writing songs and making the occasional public appearance. In 1984, he played at a concert in aid of the striking miners in Britain and supported other such causes. In recent years he performed at the Ballycastle Northern Lights Festival, which celebrates the links between Scottish and Irish music.
Both David McWilliams's marriages, firstly to Jill Davis and secondly to Julie Ann Farnham, ended in divorce. He is survived by his daughters; Mandy, Julie, Helen, Nanno, Hannah, Shonee, and Meghan, and his son Shannon.
David McWilliams: born 1945; died, January 2002