David Van Day

David Van Day (born 28 November 1956, Brighton, Sussex, England) is an English singer and media personality, formerly a member of the pop duo Dollar. He was also a member of the 1970s vocal group Guys 'n' Dolls (along with his Dollar partner Thereza Bazar), and a latter-day version of Bucks Fizz.

Biography

Van Day was born David Paul Day. In 1956, he successfully auditioned for the then-new vocal group Guys 'n' Dolls. The group had some successful hits, and Van Day began a romantic relationship with bandmate Thereza Bazar. In 1977, as a result of lacklustre sales, Van Day decided to quit the group. Bazar was sacked from the group shortly afterward, to preserve gender balance.

Van Day and Bazar then decided to perform together, and formed a new band, Dollar. The band recorded and toured from 1978 to 1983, then again from 1986 to 1988. They had several top ten hits in the UK, including "Give Me Back My Heart" in 1982. After Dollar split up again in 1988, Bazar left the music industry and moved to Australia.

In the early 1990s, Van Day toured as Dollar with a succession of female singers.

In the late 1990s he joined one incarnation of the pop group Bucks Fizz, with original Bucks Fizz member Mike Nolan.

In 2003 Van Day competed in the ITV1 reality show Reborn in the USA; he was the first act voted off. He caused controversy during the show, accusing producers of biased editing,^[1] and arguing with singer and fellow contestant Sonia,^[2] accusing her of "being crafty and cunning to try to save her own skin".^[3]

In 2008, Van Day was a semi-finalist on the eighth series of British reality television show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here! (Series 8 UK),^[4] finishing in fourth place. During his time in the jungle he clashed with glamour model Nicola McLean.^[5] Before going into I'm a Celebrity Van Day underwent plastic surgery in a Living TV documentary called Pop Goes the Band, in which he featured with Thereza Bazar.^{[citation needed]}

Van Day hosted the eleven-part reality series Brides on a Bus on Wedding TV.^[6] He also briefly appeared in the series Celebrity Coach Trip on Channel 4, and was interviewed with wife Sue Moxley on The Jeremy Kyle Show.

Politics

In May 2007, Van Day stood as a Conservative candidate for Brighton & Hove City Council in the East Brighton ward, but neither he nor the other two Conservative candidates were successful in gaining a seat,^[7] after he had apparently made some homophobic remarks which were much criticised in the town which has a large homosexual population.^[8] He is a staunch supporter of the party and at the 2010 general election stated: "I was the panto villain in the jungle but Gordon Brown is far worse than I was."^[9]

Personal life

Van Day was involved in a relationship with Dollar co-star Thereza Bazar for several years in the 1970s.^{[citation needed]} The relationship ended in the early 1980s, and Van Day later married a model called Maria. The couple divorced but have two daughters, Olivia and Amber.^{[citation needed]} Having dumped her on the Channel 5 TV show The Wright Stuff,^[10] Van Day married the beauty editor for The Sun, Sue Moxley,^[11] in Orsett, Essex, on 21 February 2010.^[12] They currently live together in South Ockendon, Essex.

During the early 2000s Van Day operated a burger van in Brighton earning him the nickname "Burger Van Day"^[13]

Solo discography

• 1983 – "Young Americans Talking" (UK No. 43)
• 1985 – "Ringing the Bell"
• 1989 – "She Said, She Said"
• 2000 – "A Fistful of Dollar"
• 2008 – "Biff Baff Boff" (with Timmy Mallett)
• 2009 – "A Big Ship on The Mersey"

References

External links

• David Van Day Online Official Website
• Dollar – Shooting Stars Website