Born in Rock Island, Illinois, on 20
February 1937, into a show-business family, David
Thomas Ackles became involved in performance at an
early age. His grandfather had been a music hall
comedian and his grandmother was leader of an
all-woman band of the type featured in the movie
Some Like It Hot. He started out in vaudeville
as young as four, then, between 1946 and 1949, took
a role in the film series Rusty the Dog for
Columbia Pictures. David played a character named
Tuck Worden. His brother in the series was played by
Dwayne Hickman, who moved on to become Dobie
Gillis on American TV.
During his degree
course at the University of Southern California,
David took a year out in Scotland to attend
Edinburgh University, where he studied literature.
He then returned to the States, to complete his
degree in Film Studies. His skills encompassed
ballet and choral music composition though he moved
on to film, musical comedy and theatre as well as
writing for television. He also managed jobs as a
private eye and a security guard and it has been
suggested that he spent some time in prison, having
strayed onto the wrong tracks for a while. By the
late 60s he was writing songs that were of stunning
beauty and Elektra employed him initially as a
songwriter, on the basis of hearing Blue Ribbons.
His persuasiveness led to a more elaborate
contract, which resulted in three wonderful albums
over five years. These received enormous critical
acclaim, although his unusual voice and eclectic
style may not have been to the taste of the general
public. Something of an artist's artist, David's
Road to Cairo was picked up by Julie Driscoll,
but failed to make the singles charts, while Spooky
Tooth made a passable version of Down River.
He reached a critical apogee with American Gothic
before being dropped by Elektra, who clearly could
not see their investment in him being recouped.
The promotion of his first album involved a lot
of radio work and many people in the UK went out and
bought his material as a result of hearing Down
River or Blue Ribbons played live on John
Peel's Radio One programme. Others didn't discover
his work until the release of American Gothic,
with its rave review by Derek Jewel in the Sunday
Times.
In the States, David played many shows and
concerts, including one in 1970 at the Troubadour,
West Hollywood, supporting Elton John, who became an
immediate fan.
A switch to Columbia for his fourth album didn't
assist his career in music. Perhaps Columbia were
looking to promote him as another Leonard Cohen, but
the result was a good album that few people bought.
The album wasn't even issued in Europe and fans
there had to rely on obtaining one of the few
imported copies. The contract was dropped and that,
for many people, was the last we heard of David
Ackles.
At least that was until the early 90s when the
release of his three Elektra albums on CD sparked
renewed interest. Phil Collins had appeared on
Desert Island Discs, a UK radio show, where he
cited Down River as one of his favourite
tracks of all time and one that, if he were marooned
on a desert island, he would want to have with him.
Elvis Costello also professed himself a fan and
featured one of David's songs as part of his stage
act for a while.
His career in popular music cut short, David
returned to writing TV scripts, along with work on
ballet scores and some lecturing on commercial
songwriting. In 1981, a drunk driver rammed his car
and his arm was badly damaged. A steel hip meant he
spent six months in a wheelchair, but he fought free
of it when asked to choreograph a show. It still
took years before he was able to return to the
piano. Movie scripts include Word of Honour
(1981, co-written with Douglas Graham, music by
Bruce Langhorne, who both worked with him on Five
and Dime) and Father of the Year. He also
wrote a children's series for American television.
David completed the score for a musical,
Sister Aimee in the early 90s and had written
more for TV. He settled on a six-acre horse farm in
Tujunga with Janice, his wife of 26 years. She is
the lady featured on the covers of the American
Gothic album. When interviewed for Q Magazine in
1994, David expressed a wish to get back in touch
with Bernie Taupin to record some new songs, but
that hope was never fulfilled, although he did
record a great deal of material over the years. Most
recently, he was involved in student theatre
production and had a success with Kurt Weill and
Bertolt Brecht's Threepenny Opera for the
University of Southern California in 1997. An
interview with him for the USC's Daily Trojan
was available on the USC website, but has now been
removed. A copy of it appears on my Press Articles
page (see below). The interview makes scant mention
of David's past life as a singer/songwriter,
concentrating principally on his views on directing
and on the piece he was working on.
A committed Christian - although some of his
lyrics seem to express the doubts that many people
have from time to time - David was a member of the
Pasadena All Saints Episcopal Church. He had strong
commitments to helping others, both in a direct
sense and through his writing. Although David
overcame a bout of cancer a few years back, it cost
him part of his left lung. He then became very
unwell again in 1997 but clung on, through
chemotherapy and the prayers of all those around
him. Indeed, he remained remarkably cheerful, as if
in denial of his illness, despite the obvious pain
that he suffered towards the end. In doing this,
David's bravery became an inspiration to the many
people who knew him. He died on 2 March 1999. His
music will live on in our hearts. |