DAVID JOSEPH COUSINS, 1940- 2025 NEW

It is with profound sadness that we have to announce the passing of David Joseph Cousins at the Pilgrims Hospice in Canterbury, peacefully following a long illness, today, Sunday 13 July 2025.

We will all wish to celebrate the life of this incredible singer-songwriter, relation, colleague and / or special friend at this time.

We, therefore, ask you to enjoy listening to your favourite Cousins song as the sun goes down, in whatever part of the world you are, enjoying what he would refer to as a glass of vino collapse (wine)…

As more information becomes available, you will be informed on his and Strawbs’ Facebook pages and on Strawbsweb

Meanwhile, we ask you to join in remembering a wonderful, talented man, whose life has touched us all.

Obituary

There's an official obituary written by Edmund Burke, Vice-Chancellor of Bangor University below If you have tributes you'd like to post, please send to me or post on the Facebook pages. Can't include them all, but I'll post a few for posterity.

DAVID JOSEPH COUSINS 1940-2025

David Cousins, accomplished songwriter, long-time leader of the Strawbs and independent local radio entrepreneur
by Edmund Burke, Vice-Chancellor Bangor University, with contributions from various sources

Although he was known for most of his career as Dave Cousins, in later life he preferred to be called David. He died on 13th July 2025 at age 85 and is survived by a half-sister and five children.

Born into a working-class family in West London, David had a unique, varied and distinguished career. He was one of the most distinctive singer-songwriters to emerge from the British scene in the 1960s before becoming a pioneer of independent local radio in the 1980s and 1990s. After twenty years in the radio business, musical composition and performance once again became his main focus. His contribution to British songwriting is immense. He has left us with a rich, deep and varied body of finely crafted songs and recordings. However, in David’s own words, from Hanging in the Gallery, one of his most exceptional songs, “He is silent now, will sing no more.”

David co-founded the Strawberry Hill Boys with Tony Hooper in 1963; they became the Strawbs in 1967, releasing their first album in 1969. Over a 60-year period, the Strawberry Hill Boys and then the Strawbs saw many musicians come and go. However, throughout all those years and all those changes, there has been just one ever present constant in all the Strawbs’ published recordings: David Cousins. His innovative songwriting skills, distinctive musical sound and idiosyncratic vocal style have shaped the sound of the Strawbs from the beginning to the end. David also released a series of solo and collaborative albums with other artists between 1972 and 2015.

He was born David Joseph Hindson on 7th January 1940 in St Giles Hospital in South London, the only son of Joseph Hindson and Violet Irene Luck. David’s father was killed in action in the first year of the Second World War when David was just seven months old. When David was six years old, his mother married Jack Cousins and David’s surname was changed to that of his stepfather. He attended Thames Valley Grammar School in Twickenham where he met future Strawbs member, Tony Hooper on his first day. After finishing school, he created a skiffle group with Tony Hooper and two friends called the Gin Bottle Four before attending the University of Leicester where he studied for a General Degree, majoring in Mathematics and Statistics. He was heavily involved in the student music scene at Leicester and he founded the University Folk Society in addition to being President of the Jazz Club, which ran in the basement of the Students’ Union building.

At the age of 22, his stepfather died and David took on the responsibility of supporting his family. After graduating from University, he worked in furniture delivery and then in meat production before being employed at Greenly’s Advertising. Following this, he became Media Manager of the Preprint and Publishing Company before setting up his own company, entitled Centreplan, acting as a local press booking facility for advertising agencies.

The Strawberry Hill Boys had their first appearance on BBC radio in June 1963 in a line-up that included the Beatles. This was the first of many engagements that David would have with the BBC. Shortly after this first radio show, the embryonic Strawberry Hill Boys supported the Rolling Stones at the Eel Pie Island Club. It was an auspicious start on David’s journey to becoming one of the most gifted British singer-songwriters of his generation. In 1965, Steve Benbow and the Strawberry Hill Boys released an album called The Songs of Ireland. It was the first time that David was credited on a record sleeve. At around this time, David opened his own folk club at the White Bear in Hounslow. In 1966, he embarked upon a solo tour of Denmark and supported the Who on TV. He became a producer for Danmarks Radio and continued in this role until 1972 when his work with the Strawbs forced him to step (temporarily) away from radio to become a full-time rock star.

David returned to Denmark in 1967 to record All Our Own Work with Sandy Denny and the Strawbs. However, with Sandy Denny joining Fairport Convention soon after and without a distributor in the UK, the album was shelved until it finally appeared in 1973 at the height of the Strawbs’ fame. David had to wait until 1968 before the Strawbs would release their own record, the single Oh How She Changed which persuaded the American label, A&M, to sign their first British band. This led to the release of Strawbs’ eponymously named debut album in 1969. At this period in his career, in addition to being the leader of the Strawbs, David also worked as an accomplished session player with artists such as Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Mary Travers, Mary Hopkin, the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. David was still running the Centreplan advertising company and the White Bear folk club. He had become a music promoter and had launched the Hounslow Arts Lab while continuing in his role as a radio producer. However, the Strawbs were about to hit the big time and all these activities would have to give way as his leadership of the band increasingly demanded his attention.

Following the release of their second album, Dragonfly in 1970, Rick Wakeman, joined the band but left after releasing just two albums (Just a Collection of Antiques and Curios in 1970 and From the Witchwood in 1971). During this period, the Strawbs generated a growing following and their breakthrough album came in 1972, with the release of Grave New World. It was a Number 11 hit and sold over 94,000 copies in the UK in addition to being the first Strawbs album to enter the US Billboard Top 200. David’s remarkable songwriting skills and unique vocal delivery underpinned this success. David released his first solo album, Two Weeks Last Summer, later in 1972. This extraordinary album remains a distinctive highlight of his outstanding discography.

The success of Grave New World acted as a springboard for David and the band to make an impact in North America. David toured the USA and Canada with the Strawbs for the first time in 1972. This period led to the high point of Strawbs’ commercial success with the release of Bursting at the Seams in January 1973, which charted at Number 2 in the UK. It was released shortly after the band’s highest charting single at that time: Lay Down, which is based on the 23rd Psalm. David wrote and performed lead vocals on the single which peaked at Number 12 in the UK. The band went on to release a Number 2 UK hit single in January 1973 with Part of the Union.

This success masked growing discord in the band which led to a major personnel change. However, the underlying factor of continuity from one Strawbs album to the next was David’s musical leadership and distinctive style. The release of Hero and Heroine in 1974 saw David’s musical direction and innovative songwriting take a more progressive direction. It was the first Strawbs album to have a major impact in the USA and Canada. Ghosts was released in 1975 and represented the high point of the 1970s for David’s musical profile in North America, reaching Number 47 in the US charts. The Strawbs toured North America and performed in Japan. From the outside, the band was flying high.

However, storm clouds were gathering. Against David’s wishes, the band’s management split with A&M. They were contractually obliged to deliver one last album for A&M and they duly released Nomadness in late 1975. Two more albums followed (Deep Cuts in 1976 and Burning for You in 1977) before another change of label in 1978. Although the impact of these releases waned, they all appeared in the Billboard Top 200. It was not until the release of Deadlines in 1978 that the Strawbs failed to make the Billboard Top 200 for the first time since Grave New World. They recorded another album in 1978 entitled Heartbreak Hill but it was not to be released for 17 years. The band released a single with Maddy Prior in 1979. The single failed to make a commercial impact despite containing two of David’s most evocative songs: The King and Ringing Down the Years, his memorial tribute to Sandy Denny, who had died in 1978. David’s moving lyrics in this song can now be slightly adapted to apply to his own musical legacy “as every word [he] ever sang comes ringing down the years.”

During 1979, David returned to his folk roots and toured with Brian Willoughby. An album entitled Old School Songs, representing this musical change of direction, appeared that year. David’s achievements by the end of the 1970s were extraordinary. David and the Strawbs had produced an exemplary portfolio of outstanding music but, amid acrimony and discord, the band fell apart in early 1980 as David resigned from the Strawbs. However, his career was far from over. Indeed, it was about to take a unique turn as a new decade beckoned and as he forged a new path.

In 1980, David was appointed as programme controller at Radio Tees. This was quite an accomplishment for someone who had never worked in the management of a radio station. In December of that year, he persuaded the Watersons to record a Christmas show for the station. Twenty five years later, this show was released as an album on David’s own label, Witchwood Media. Another highlight of David’s radio career was persuading Dame Vera Lynn to talk for an hour about her favourite music. It was released on Christmas Day in 1981.

David left Radio Tees in 1983, to join DevonAir Radio as station controller. Two years later, he became Managing Director. He played a major role in a merger between DevonAir and Capitol Radio which led to him becoming a senior executive of Capitol Radio where he worked with Richard Attenborough who was chairman of the Board at the time. David became an expert at applying for and winning independent radio licenses. Indeed, in 1996, David played a leading role in winning the last available London FM licence for a radio station called Xfm, which started broadcasting the following year. David created the tagline for for Xfm which was to describe the output of the station: “Guitar-led rock, with attitude”. In 1999, David launched a new radio station called Radio Victory, becoming Chairman of the Board. Six weeks after the establishment of the station, it was sold for £3.1M.

Throughout his twenty years in the radio business, he had occasionally performed in reincarnations of the Strawbs and as a solo artist. He appeared on a Channel 4 show in 1983 called Gastank, hosted by Rick Wakeman. In the Summer of 1983, the Strawbs were the headline act at the Cambridge Folk Festival. In 1987, the Strawbs released Don’t Say Goodbye, their first album for nine years. An album entitled Ringing Down the Years was released in 1991 followed by the eventual 1995 release of Heartbreak Hill (recorded in 1978). Moreover, there had been sporadic concerts and tours in the twenty years that David’s primary focus had been on radio. In 1993, the Strawbs had a 25th Anniversary tour and festival in Suffolk. They followed this up, five years later with a 30th anniversary concert at Chiswick House.

At the dawn of the new millennium, David’s radio career drew to a close and he turned his focus once again to musical composition and performance. He formed Witchwood Media and employed the label to release a long line of Strawbs albums together with his own solo and collaborative projects. The Acoustic Strawbs released their first album, Baroque and Roll, on the Witchwood label in 2001. The Strawbs’ 40th anniversary was held over two days at Twickenham Stadium in 2009. Witchwood Media released two albums to capture this event. The Strawbs’ 50th anniversary was celebrated with a three-day event in Lakewood, New Jersey in 2019. The most recent albums were released on the Cherry Red Records label, including The Magic of it All in 2023. He continued to write and record new songs right up until the end of his life.

Towards the end of his career, David received significant awards and recognition for his outstanding contribution to music and radio. In 2002, he was invited to be a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 2020, David was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Alumni Association of the University of Leicester and, three years later, the University awarded him the honorary degree of Doctor of Music. This was an award that recognised David’s outstanding achievement and his lifelong engagement with, and connection to, the University of Leicester. He had strong links with the University’s Attenborough Arts Centre which was established by Lord Richard Attenborough, who David had worked with during his time in radio.

David Cousins’ last concert with the Strawbs was at the Cropredy Festival in August 2023. His final concert performance came as a guest artist at a Rick Wakeman concert in Folkestone in late 2024. However, David’s final public performance was during a visit to Bangor University on March 21st 2025. In the early days of his career, in November 1964, he had performed at Bangor University with the Strawberry Hill Boys. Over 60 years later, he returned to give two lectures in the Music Department to an appreciative audience of students and staff. It was a wonderful day, with David generously sharing his wisdom, humour, experience and expertise. His first lecture was a practical, informative, amusing and pragmatic guide to making a living in the music industry. The second lecture explored David’s process for writing songs while he demonstrated some of the unique tunings that he had used over his long songwriting career. David performed excerpts from some of his songs to illustrate his technique. It was the last time that he was to perform his brilliant and haunting songs in public. A new generation of music students had a marvellous opportunity to learn from the master songwriter.

However, he will perform no more. The final words should come from David himself, taken from his masterpiece solo album, Two Weeks Last Summer:

“Sad it is, but that's the way it ends.”