British progressive rock multi-instrumentalist David Longdon demonstrated an expansive command of instruments throughout his career, encompassing vocals, flute, dulcimer, glockenspiel, keyboards, guitar, bass, mandolin, lute, banjo, accordion, percussion, psaltery, vibraphone, theremin, and wristwatch. Active in bands from his secondary school days onward, Longdon became most closely identified with Big Big Train after joining the ensemble in 2008, yet he had already contributed to Louis Philippe’s projects during the 1990s and participated in a brief audition process with Genesis, among other significant endeavors.
Longdon entered the world in Nottingham in 1965 and formed his initial group, Greenhouse, alongside schoolmates Simon Withers and Ian White. During his twenties he performed with O’ Strange Passion, though his profile rose more noticeably once he entered the Gifthorse, whose schedule included opening dates for Kirsty MacColl, Blur, and the Pogues. Following Phil Collins’s departure from Genesis in the mid-1990s, the band conducted auditions for a replacement singer; Longdon advanced through an intensive selection period that stretched from May to November 1996 while simultaneously contributing to the sessions that produced Calling All Stations, only for Stiltskin frontman Ray Wilson ultimately to receive the role. That same year Longdon aligned himself with Louis Philippe’s band, an association that yielded contributions to five studio albums spanning Jackie Girl in 1996 through My Favorite Part of You in 2004.
His debut solo release, Wild River, appeared in 2004 in collaboration with the Magic Club and was dedicated to his late father. In 2005 he guested on Louis Philippe’s Live album issued in 2007, after which the two musicians parted company. Longdon was subsequently invited to provide vocals for former IQ member Martin Orford’s concluding album, The Old Road, released in 2008; the sessions introduced him to several members of Big Big Train and led to his decade-long tenure with the group. His first recording with them was the sixth studio album, The Underfall Yard, issued in 2009, followed swiftly by English Electric, Pts. 1 & 2 in 2012 and 2013.
In the ensuing years Longdon lent his talents to a range of projects, among them two 2013 albums with the Tangent—Le Sacre du Travail and L’Étagère du Travail—an appearance on the title track of Dave Kerzner’s 2014 album New World, a featured vocal on the Charlatans’ “Walk with Me” from their 2015 release Modern Nature, and vocals plus flute on the 2015 remastered edition of Steve Hackett’s third album, Spectral Mornings. Between 2016 and 2019 he recorded four further albums with Big Big Train, beginning with Folklore and concluding with Grand Tour. In 2020 he issued his second solo album, Between a Breath and a Breath, recorded in tandem with Judy Dyble, who passed away later that year. David Longdon died on November 20, 2021, in Nottingham, England, at the age of 56.
