Dave Rowland (January 26, 1944 – November 1, 2018) was a country and gospel singer, better known to many in the music business as the founder and lead singer of hit-making group Dave & Sugar.
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| L-R-BillBaise, Ed Enoch, Dave Rowland, JD Sumner |
Rowland was born in Sanger, California, and raised in Los Angeles. Before forming Dave & Sugar, Rowland was part of J.D. Sumner and the Stamps Quartet.The gospel outfit toured and recorded with Elvis Presley between 1971 and 1977; Rowland would wear a gold lightning bolt on a chain with the letters "T.C.B.," a gift from Presley. The Stamps Quartet was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1988. He later toured with the Four Guys and also was a prominent member of Country Music Hall of Fame member Charley Pride’s road show.
By 1975, with Pride looking for a backup band, Rowland hired Jackie Frantz and Vicki Hackeman, and Dave & Sugar was formed.After signing on with Pride’s management team, Dave & Sugar signed with RCA Records and recorded their first album. The trio’s first single, “Queen of the Silver Dollar” (written by Shel Silverstein) broke into the Top 25 of Billboard magazine’s country singles chart in early 1976. Their second single “The Door Is Always Open,” shot straight to the number one spot on the country charts, a driving, lushly produced track which expertly combined Rowland’s resonant baritone with soaring harmonies.
Two successive singles, “I’m Gonna Love You,” and “Don’t Throw It All Away,” used the same basic formula as “The Door Is Always Open,” and also became huge hits in 1976-77. Their peak run garnered nearly one dozen Top 10 singles, including two more No. 1 hits – “Tear Time” (1978) and “Golden Tears” (1979). Overall, Dave & Sugar charted 16 times on the Billboard country charts. Jackie Frantz was replaced by Sue Powell in 1977, who in turn was replaced by Jamie Kaye in 1980, while Vicki Hackeman was replaced by Melissa Dean (Etta Britt) in January 1979.
Dave & Sugar was a slick sounding, soulful vocal trio that during their heyday was labeled “the country ABBA.” lthough their career was much shorter lived than that of Bjorn and crew, Dave & Sugar did share the Swedish group’s knack for catchy tunes, sparkling production, and full, rich, male/female vocal arrangements. Their touring took them throughout North America, Europe, New Zealand and Italy, where the group played a command performance for the Mayor of Rome.
Rowland also toured with Conway Twitty, Hank Williams, Jr., Waylon Jennings, and Barbara Mandrell and was an opening act for Kenny Rogers for two years. Rowland disbanded the trio briefly during the early 1980s to try a solo.career, releasing an album entitled (appropriately) Sugar Free. Sue Powell also charted two singles on RCA as a soloist, and later went on to host the TV series Nashville on the Road.
Rowland later reformed the trio with two new sets of "Sugar" partners: Cindy Smith and Lisa Alvey, followed by Regina Leigh and Lori Mason. However, these second-era trios failed to gain the popularity the original trios had in the 1970s and the group disbanded for good after only minimal success. In 1997, former Sugar member Leigh formed the short-lived country duo Regina Regina with partner Regina Nicks.
On November 1, 2018, Rowland died due to complications from a stroke in his Nashville home at the age of 74.
(Edited from Country Music News International & Wikipedia)