David A. Stewart

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David Allen Stewart, often known as Dave Stewart (born September 9, 1952 in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England), is a British musician and record producer.

In 1971, whilst still in his teens, he secured a record deal as part of folk-rock band Longdancer, but they did not achieve commercial success.

In the mid-1970s he was promoted through the progressive rock band "Child" just as the market for progressive rock died. Stewart then spent several years living in squats in London, taking copious amounts of drugs.

In late 1976, he was introduced to Annie Lennox by a mutual friend, and the pair became lovers. By 1977, the pair had teamed up with Sunderland musician Peet Coombes, releasing a single on Logo Records as The Catch. This band developed into The Tourists who enjoyed modest success, including a hit with a cover of the Dusty Springfield standard "I Only Want To Be With You".

Both the Tourists and Stewart & Lennox's romantic liaison ended in 1980. At this point, Stewart began a new musical project with Lennox, Eurythmics. Eurythmics proved to be one of the most consistent and creative pop-rock duos of the 1980s. When Eurythmics dissolved in 1990, Stewart immediately released a solo album with the Spiritual Cowboys. Throughout the 90's, Stewart released albums, including a solo album. Stewart was married for several years to Siobhan Fahey with whom he has children. In 1999, Eurythmics reunited to release Peace. Stewart continues to be involved in a variety of projects, recently relocating to the United States.

Stewart, styled a "Cultural Engineer", appeared in an Apple Computer advertisement c. 1993 for the Power Macintosh in which he ruminated on the word "Power".

Recently Stewart has written a musical, Barbarella, which is based on the 1968 movie and which premiered in Vienna, Austria on March 11, 2004.

In November 2002 former South African president Nelson Mandela gave his prison number 466/64 to Dave Stewart so that he could use it to help in the fight against HIV/AIDS in South Africa by raising money for the Nelson Mandela Foundation, leading to the 46664 campaign and series of concerts.

He normally credits himself as David A. Stewart, partly to avoid confusion with another musician known as Dave Stewart.

The Channel 4 series Nathan Barley parodied Stewart in its third episode with a character named "Doug Rocket".

On 4 April 2005 a Bechstein grand piano owned by Stewart was auctioned by Bonhams for £3,600. The piano had been used by stars including Bob Dylan and Sir Paul McCartney.

In early 2006, Stewart began promoting Platinum Weird, a collaboration with songwriter Kara DioGuardi. Begun about 2004, this music is attributed to a fictional music group including Stewart, said to have existed from 1973 to 1974.

Only recently Dave Stewart collaborated with The Rolling Stones vocalist, Mick Jagger, to record songs which appear on the soundtrack to the Alfie movie, released in 2004. The soundtrack includes the critically acclaimed "Old Habits Die Hard". He also recently co-wrote Friend or Foe for the Russian pop duo t.A.T.u, a song whichfeatures on their 2005 album Dangerous and Moving.

Dave Stewart's entire catalogue - from Eurythmics classics to hits he has written for other artists to film scores-- has been published by BMG Music Publishing since 1982.

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