Posterous theme by Cory Watilo

It's never too late to follow your dreams

It’s amazing what you can achieve, even when the odds are stacked against you. 
All you need is a little time on your hands to ponder what’s been missing in your life, then take a leap of faith to fulfil your dreams. 
Our mate Dave Dene has changed his life in the last 12 months. 
He used to play guitar with The Denims, Shakin' Stevens backing band, way before Shaky was discovered.
The Denims were possibly the only Welsh band to audition at London's famous 2is coffee bar in 1964 
where so much British talent was discovered - Tommy Steele, Cliff Richard, Joe Brown, Eden Kane, Screaming Lord Such and Mickie Most to name just a few. 
After their audition Dave was approached by a representative of Van Morrison and they were given the opportnity to tour as support band to the Irish R&B band 'Them'. 
The boys declined as at that moment in time as they had grand plans to follow The Beatles to Germany on the wave of British pop. 
As it turned out they were too young for working permits never got there. Shaky left The Denims soon after to join a band from Llanishen called The Big Five and went on to sing with various bands before becoming a solo artist.
And the Denims? The lead guitarist went to America and the rest of the lads disbanded. Dave got married and started a family.
I didn’t know Dave when he was playing with Shakin' Stevens, When we met Dave and his wife Mivvy, he played the clubs and pubs, singing and playing the guitar on the weekends.
When the children grew up we downsized homes and lost touch until one day at Asda we bumped into them and took up where we left off.
A few years ago Dave had a heart attack and whilst convalescing he found he couldn’t sleep. So every night he would keep himself occupied by jotting down lyrics. 
When he was feeling fitter, he dusted off his guitar and wrote the music. The songs were magical and his ambition was to get them recorded.
He’s working on his third album now - and I’ve been playing his new release ‘Paintings and Pictures’ all weekend. I love Dave’s songs because each one tells a story and you can actually understand the lyrics. 
Some of the tracks are just wonderful, my favourites are all ballads: Touched by an Angel, Pictures and Paintings and The Shilling.
Sometimes he sounds like a bit like Elvis, sometimes Johnny Cash and sometimes he just sounds like our mate Dave.  To hear Dave sing, click on www.daviddene.co.uk.
I’m so proud of Dave, he’s an inspiration. From being so ill to achieving his lifetime’s ambition - the moral here is it’s never to late to follow that dream.