David Samuel McWilliams (1945–2002) was a singer-songwriter and guitarist from Northern Ireland, born in Belfast’s Cregagh area and raised in Ballymena, where he began playing guitar as a teen. After leaving Ballymena Technical College in 1963, David Samuel McWilliams worked at the Shorts missile factory and formed the Coral Showband, while also playing football. A demo reached music entrepreneur Phil Solomon, who connected David Samuel McWilliams with songwriter Dominic Behan; David Samuel McWilliams moved to West London and secured a contract with CBS before signing to Solomon’s Major Minor label. His debut album Singing Songs by David McWilliams peaked at Number 38 on the UK Albums Chart in 1967, and David McWilliams Volume 2 reached Number 23, producing the worldwide million-seller “Days of Pearly Spencer”, a Top 10 hit in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. He released David McWilliams Volume 3 (1968) and later albums such as Lord Offaly (1972), The Beggar and the Priest (1973) and Livin’s Just a State of Mind (1974), touring across Europe and sharing stages with The Dubliners and The Kerries. Returning to Northern Ireland in 1978, David Samuel McWilliams performed locally and headlined a miners’ aid concert in 1984. A compilation, The Days of David McWilliams, appeared in 2001. David Samuel McWilliams passed away in 2002 at the age of 56, following a heart attack at his Ballycastle home.
