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David Readman biography

David Readman the voice of Pink Cream 69 and Voodoo Circle and ex-Adagio was born in Burnley, a small northern town in England, David hails from a family steeped in the history of coal mining. As most northern lads of his age, his future in a way had been earmarked. However, with his family having a musical background, his mother also singing and his Grandmother playing piano, there was always a chance that David could adopt some of their talent. Having left school at the tender age of fifteen, a succession of jobs followed. However, young Master Readman had already been bitten by the musical bug and formed various bands like Alander, Sixmyth, Splatterpunk and cut his "live" teeth playing the local club circuit.

At age 19, unfulfilled promise led him to Nelson and Colne Music College in 1989 where he learned the basics of what was required to become a professional singer. Two years later, it was was time for the hungry Readman to find a real band.

However, it wasn't until during a camping trip where he sung some Led Zep songs a friend said "Man, what you doing, you should be making records". That was it, David now had the belief and the fire in his belly required to succeed in the music business, and spent the next few months sending a barrage of demos tapes in response to adverts for singers in the cult UK magazine Melody Maker. It wasn't long before he received calls from throughout the UK.
These would eventually lead to auditions and jobs with Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden), then solo, Thomas McRocklin (Vai-like virtuoso) and a move to London with Misha Calvin, who would later release the demos without David's consent.
The 17th June 1994 is the day that David's life, as he knew it, would change forever! He flew to Germany for an audition with European Hard Rockers Pink Cream 69, who's vocalist Andi Deris had left to join Helloween. David was successful in his audition and felt that at last he had discovered the band that he had so long craved. Pink Cream 69 were also a band that his talent undoubtedly deserved!

Things moved so fast for David with the signing of a record contract with Sony Music in November '94 and a trip to America only a couple of days later to record his first PC69 record "Change" with in California. The quartet returned to Germany at the tale end of January '95 and immediately set out on the road for David's first headline tour. Thunderhead accompanied on what was was a crazy time and a long way from Burnley!




A procession of records quickly followed - "Food for Thought", the "Live" CD and then the highly acclaimed "Electrified", a return to the bands hard rocking roots. This record began to open doors again for Pink Cream 69, that many declared they had shut with the change in direction on their appropriately named "Change" album!
Success in various quarters arrived with the single "Shame" and a European Tour with (Iron Maiden) vocalist Bruce Dickinson followed, where David would again be reaquainted with Adrian Smith.




June 1999 saw the band flying 14 hours to Japan where they experienced an unforgettable four days playing Tokyo and Kawasaki.
David barely had time to pinch himself when in 2000 the band released their next record "Sonic Dynamite", again to critical acclaim, and were off to Sao Paulo in Brazil for the first time. This would become a great year for touring with a co-headline tour with Axiss also under their belts.

David then met Stephan Forte at a concert in France, and a partnership commenced in the studio. Pink Cream 69's EP "Mixery" was recorded in-between, which meant working with Adagio through the day, and then recording "One Step into Paradise" at night sessions at House of Audio Studios Karlsdorf. The end of June 2001 saw the release of their first collaboration, under the name of Adagio, the "Sanctus Ignus" CD.
"Endangered" would become David's fifth studio album with Pink Cream 69 in 2001 and carried on where "Electrified" and "Sonic Dynamite" left off. David was now firmly turning heads on a regular basis with emotional and soulfull performances and was now highly regarded as one of Europe's finest rock singers!
Work continued to emerge with various projects, mainly assocaited with David's Bass playing colleague and Producer Dennis Ward. In November 2002 Missa Mercuria, a Rock Opera, was released in Germany. David played the part of the narrator and sung on three tracks on the record.

Adagio's second album "Underworld" was released in November 2003 whilst Pink Cream took a long break, mainly due to health issues with their guitarist Alfred Koffler.
Koffler thankfully recovered and in 2004 "Das Pinkies" returned with arguably their finest release to date in "Thunderdome". The citics went wild and the album featured in many an "Album of the Year" category throughout Europe. David put in some of his best performances ever captured on record, none more so than the self penned hanuting ballad "That Was Yesterday".
In the beginning of 2004 David participated in his first tour with Adagio, covering the whole of France and Belgium and two weeks later, at the beginning of March 2004, would immediately set out on the road with Pink Cream 69 in support of the "Thunderdome" album. The tour kicked off in Obermarchtal, Germany on 5th March 2004 and proved to be a gruelling schedule for David and his voice. Both came through unscathed!

David and Adagio soon announced their decision to part amicably and is now planning the release of his first solo record. The songs have all been written and plans are well underway to making that dream a reality! Having heard some of the demos it's safe to say that fans of Pink Cream 69 and David Readman will not be disappointed when this material sees the light of day!
With gigs in Italy, Germany, USA and a first appearance in England for David with PC69 and The Gods, 2005 looks like being every bit as good as 2004 for the multi talented David Readman and the very underrated Pink Cream 69.

For all those of who have yet to discover the wonderful talents of this amazing singer and his delightful band - "Shame on You" 2007 would see David releasing his first solo album, one year later he would be the first artist to play two times on the 2008 Firefest. Not only on Saturday night with PC69 but also on Sunday with his solo band. 2007 would be his second tour with GOMUSIC a project from Martin Engelin Bass player from German band Klaus Lager, at the end of 2008 he would take part in a great band called Voodoo Circle with Alex Beyrodt, (Sinner, Silent Force, Primal Fear) and Mel Gaynor from Simple Minds. The album went on to be album of the month in Powerplay magazine in the UK. October 2009 saw the release of a live album and live DVD with Pink Cream 69 called Past and Present. Both recorded in Karlsruhe in Germany were David has lived for the last 16 years. At the end of 2009 David would take part again in Martin Engelin's GOMUSIC project playing 11 gig's with Stratking Thomas Blug "Stratking of Europe"(Stewart Copeland, Don Airey, Mel Gaynor, Percy Sledge, Bobby Kimball) and Manni Von Bohr a Drum legend in Germany

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NEW ALBUM "VOODOO CIRCLE" IN STORES December 5th 2008!!

 

 

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What the press say:

Pink Cream 69 vocalist David Readman has produced a very enjoyable solo album which will delight lovers of Pink Cream 69 and Whitesnake (Readman does have the odd touch of Coverdale at times in his voice). A very impressive musical cast including band mates Dennis Ward handling production and guitarist Uwe Reitenauer. Joining them are Paul Logue (Eden’s Curse/Cry Havoc), Eric Ragno (Vox Tempus/Takara) plus members of Silent Force, Elegy and Vanden Plas.

If the opener ‘Without You’ doesn’t get you running around pulling air guitar/vocalist shapes all over the place then you must be clinically dead! What a riff, what a chorus – this is what great melodic hard rock is all about. The next track ‘Evil Combination’ keeps the pace going nicely and then we get to slow it down slightly with ‘Take These Tears’. A very moving ballad although certain parts of the song sound like Whitesnake’s ‘Is This Love?’ Other corkers include ‘Prisoner Of Shame’ (the Coverdale sound comes through on this song) and ‘New Messiah’, which is another superlative hard rock tune. The lushly instrumented ‘Love In Vain’ closes the album in fine style.

David Readman has produced a very enjoyable album (with great production as you’d expect from Dennis Ward’s involvement) that taps into Pink Cream 69 but for me hits the Whitesnake button more. High quality hard rock form one of the better voices in the genre, buy with confidence!

Jason Ritchie



"David Readman has a very clean and powerful voice."
www.the-plague.net

"A vocalist that really puts an energetic performance into nearly every line."
www.vibrationsofdoom.com

"The star, however, is vocalist David Readman. What a stunning voice. I could listen to him all day.
Andi Deris is a fine singer, but David really does fit the material perfectly. It doesn't matter which register,
either high or low, David hits the mark every time. The vocal control is magnificent."
www.glory-daze.com

"A handful of irresistible songs superbly emphasized by the delicious vocals of David Readman."
www.metal-observer.com

"David is extremely pleasant to hear signing with impeccable timing and substance - his vocal melodies are
more than outstanding."
www.progressiveworld.net

"David Readman returns to his powerful rock vocals establishing his mark as one of the good singers in this domain."
www.the-metals-den.com

"The mid-ranged vocals of David Readman are clear and powerful. He really shines."
www.progressiveworld.net

"I like David Readman's voice very much and in my opinion PC69 sounds better with David than they did with Andi Deris."
www.aor-europe.com

"That David Readman has a very strong voice that also can bear a song and additionally sounds pretty original,
too, should already be known from PINK CREAM 69 and also ADAGIO and on “Thunderdome” (the album) he
presents himself in absolute top form."
www.metal-observer.com

"Definitely one of the best singers in the genre."
www.morrigans-pit.org


Voodoo review

This album starts off with the song "Spewing Lies" with an in your face riff that immediately drags the listener on a ride that will take you on a journey into musical bliss! Followed by two hard rock heavy hitters "Desperate Heart", and "Kingdom Of The Blind" that are just oozing with fantastic melodies, and bombastic choruses that are easily to be stuck in your head afterwards.
All this supplied with the very solid drumming of Mel Gaynor who doesnt get overly fancy, and lets the beats pave the way for the listener, and of course Matt Sinner providing some nice bottom end into the mix. This album has a nice wide variety of tunes. "Man And Machine" is a nice uptempo rocker with some 70s style overtones, "Heaven Can Wait" which is a nice heavy bluesy filled track, and then we have songs like "We'll Never Learn" which fans of songs like Malmsteens "You Dont Remember I'll Never Forget" will absolutely love! The great thing about this release is that it never gets stuck in just one formula, and there is not a single filler to be found on the album. The keyboards are never the dominate factor, and provide a nice touch of added element making the songs sound much more fuller, and atmopsheric. I really cannot say enough good things about it,
and David Readman is so damn impressive that one has to wonder why he isn't talked about more. He is one of the best vocalists in Hard Rock, and his voice is the perfect fitting for this kind of band.

Alex Beyrodt has always shown what a talent he is in Silent Force, but he has now shown just how much of a top musician and songwriter he really is. I truly hope this isnt the last we have heard from this amazing band. Did I mention that all of this is topped off by one of the best producers in the business today? Thats right handled by none other then "Dennis Ward", and with that tops off what I would call a perfect release. Good job to all involved!
(The Metal Madman)