David Parton

David Parton (born David Eric Stanley Parton) is an English singer-songwriter and record producer from Newcastle Under Lyme, Staffordshire, England. He is also known as Des Parton, based on the initials of his first three names.

Parton was the frontman of Strange Fox, who were nurtured by Tony Hatch in the early 1970s.[1] Parton achieved songwriting success writing songs for Sweet Sensation in the mid-1970s, namely "Sad Sweet Dreamer" which was a number 1 single in the UK, and "Purely by Coincidence" which also charted.[1] He arranged and co-produced both tracks with Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent.[2]

In 1975, Parton released an album entitled Snaps on the Buk record label, a short lived imprint of Decca Records.[3] A year later he re-emerged with a band called The Cyril Dagworth Players, where Parton masqueraded as Dagworth. They released one album, also co-produced by Parton and Hatch.[4][5]

Parton then sang a cover version of Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely" which he again co-produced with Hatch. When the original contracted singer (Marcel King from Sweet Sensation) was unable re-create Wonder's vocal nuances, rather than dispose of the backing track, Parton sang the lead vocal, and it was decided to issue this version.[1] It was released on 15 January 1977 and was in the UK Singles Chart for nine weeks, reaching number 4.[6] Lack of further chart action saw him dubbed as a one-hit wonder. He later worked as a songwriter and producer based in Cheshire.[1]

He has generally sung and played guitar with local bands from North Staffordshire.