Article

David Wilcox

Published Online June 21, 2007

Last Edited December 15, 2013

David (Karl William) Wilcox. Guitarist, singer, songwriter, b Montreal 13 Jul 1949. Raised in Toronto, he began his career there in the early 1970s with Ian and Sylvia Tyson's Great Speckled Bird, then toured and recorded with the US singer Maria Muldaur.

Wilcox, David

David (Karl William) Wilcox. Guitarist, singer, songwriter, b Montreal 13 Jul 1949. Raised in Toronto, he began his career there in the early 1970s with Ian and Sylvia Tyson's Great Speckled Bird, then toured and recorded with the US singer Maria Muldaur. In 1975 he established his own rock trio (briefly known as the Teddy Bears). His skill as a guitarist and his droll spontaneity as an entertainer made him a popular performer on the national nightclub and university circuit through the 1980s.

After an early CBC broadcast recording (Schooled for You, LM 458), Wilcox released five albums 1981-9: Out of the Woods (Freedom FR-010/Cap ST-6505), My Eyes Keep Me in Trouble (Cap ST-6503), Bad Reputation (Cap ST-6513), Breakfast at the Circus (Cap CLT-48551), and The Natural Edge (Cap C1-48748). A compilation, The Best of David Wilcox (Cap ST-6522), was issued in 1985 and sold in excess of 100,000 copies. The singles 'Layin' Pipe' and 'Between the Lines' (1988) and 'The Natural Edge' (1989) were minor Canadian hits. His 'Hypnotizin' Boogie' and 'Cabin Fever' were used in the US feature films Cocktail and The Great Outdoors, respectively, in 1988. Other popular Wilcox titles include 'Bad Apple,' 'Riverboat Fantasy,' and 'Breakfast at the Circus'.

On the release of The Natural Edge, Craig MacInnis observed: 'There have always been two David Wilcoxes. One is the fleet-fingered miscreant whose grungy guitar fantasies betray the instincts of an eternal teenager. The other is... a pensive, sympathetic figure with a keen eye for social detail and a well-developed sense of musical irony' (Toronto Star, 14 Jul 1989).