Dave Helling/Dyon Parker/Dave Parker...

I've had a couple of enquiries about one of the characters in the book (and in 'Don Partridge and Company' where I talk about him in more detail) – with the triple hit name of 'Dave Helling/Dyon Parker/Dave Parker.'  The photo above is of him (right) and Alan Young, one of the original new wave of buskers who came into the West End of London in the sixties, alongside his old partner, Don Partridge (and Patrick Keane), breaking ground for people like Dave and myself to follow on. I first met Dave down the subway at Marble Arch tube station which was a good earner in those days and where I started my busking career in London. He was supercool, a stocky guy accompanied by his partner Eileen (forever known as 'Lal'), an English girl fron the North East. Dave was the result of an American father stationed in Wales during WW2 and a local girl – which accounts for his use of two surnames at various points, Helling and Parker. Parker was the one he opted for later on but when I first knew him it was Helling. Dave was a superb singer, very good guitar player and reasonable songwriter who made several obscure albums that are slowly coming to some kind of cult prominence due to the internet. More about that on another post soon... this is to introduce one of the photos of him in Pat's book – a typical pose in stetson, alongside Alan Young's ridiculous but right Mexican sombrero. They were an excellent act, visually setting each other off with the headgear and blending musically very well. I had a lot of crazy times with Dave – he was an extreme character, to say the least...