I think he was on the harvest label in late sixties along with Pink Floyd and Be bop deluxe. In folk circles he will be remembered as a legend
Apparently he turned down the chance to be Bowie's guitarist - the job went to a guitarist in Chapman's band, Mick Ronson, another much missed great.
The soundtrack to those late 1960s teenage parties that I sometimes went to (weak cider, spin the bottle - that kind of stuff) was Michael Chapman, Pink Floyd, the Moody Blues etc. I loved his Rainmaker LP and eventually bought it. He appeared at Dave Burland’s folk club at the top of the Civic a few times and I remember being mesmerised by the sounds that he could get out of his guitar strings. The kind of musician that can make a single instrument sound like there were several people playing at once. Favourite Chapman song - Mallard “I passed the Mallard just the other day. I was riding a train, I was riding away. Away, from the Mallard and you….” He was from Leeds by the way, but I never held that against him. RIP Michael.
Saw him live in Saltaire a couple of years ago. Got to chat to him afterwards. It was a top night. Check out soulful lady. Its a cracker
I remember meeting Dave when I was a wee lad. I believe he was a Sergeant at the time in Barnsley. My dad worked with him, and was either a Sergeant or Inspector at the time. I sometimes had to go into Barnsley Police Station to see my old man. It would've been the mid to late sixties.
I didn’t know that he had been a police officer. I just looked him up briefly and it says he left in 1968 to pursue his folk singing career. Must have been around that time that I started going to the Centenary Rooms on a Saturday night where I saw some superb acts performing.
