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Dave King (b. 11th December 1961 in Dublin, Ireland) is the lead vocalist and primary siter and lyricist for the Irish-American punk band Flogging Molly.

[edit] Roots and Early Life

Dave King (December 11, 1961) grew up in a small two-room flat in Dublin, Ireland in Beggars Bush, a tenement that was once a British military barracks and is now a renovated retirement home for Dublin's elderly. He left when he was 17, but would return at 40.¹ When he was around the age of six or seven his parents bought him a guitar. King remembers being called inside by his mother to watch David Bowie perform "Space Oddity" on television.

When King was ten, his father died. Because King had been the one to draw attention to his father's ill appearance, he partially blamed himself for his father's death. King has said that his father's death was the most traumatic event of his life.

After emigrating to the United States, he was without a United States Permanent Resident Card for eight years, making him incapable of visiting his home. This forced separation from his homeland has been claimed by some to be a contributing factor in many of Flogging Molly's song lyrics.

He was married at the age of 20 and had a son, Graham Richard King. However, he divorced when Graham was 4 years old. He is now married to fellow musician and bandmate Bridget Regan. The two were married in a private ceremony in Tokyo, Japan. They currently reside in Ireland, where Flogging Molly have recently completed their new album 'Float'.

[edit] Career information

Prior to forming Flogging Molly, Dave King was the vocalist for Fastway, a 1980s-early 1990s heavy metal band, featuring guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke of the metal band Motörhead, Pete Way (bassist of UFO), Jerry Shirley (Humble Pie). They recorded their first four records with King on vocals, as well as a live record, although Way left before the release of the first album and did not appear on the album cover. After disbanding Fastway (Eddie carried on the name with all new members) King formed Katmandu with Mandy Meyer (former member of the band Krokus), who released one self-titled album, had a couple of minor hits but later disbanded. Dave King retained a record deal with Epic records, who wanted him to sing for The Jeff Beck Group, but he declined. He started working on new material with a distinct Irish sound, but still retaining the hard driving, loud and fast musical style. He asked to be let out of his Epic contract because "they wouldn't know what to do with the new music anyways...". Since then Dave King has had great success with Flogging Molly, reaching a peak position of #4 on the Billboard charts top 200 and a #1 on the Billboard Indie Chart. Flogging Molly is a band that fuses traditional Irish music with modern day punk. Dave King composes his verse on a typewriter manufactured in 1916, the year of the Easter Rising in Ireland, in order to celebrate his Irish heritage, having been born in Dublin.

[edit] References

1. Friction magazine, by George B. Sanchez, November 5th, 2002