David Holland (5 April 1948 – 16 January 2018) was an English drummer, born in Northampton, England. Holland is best remembered for his time with the bands Trapeze from 1969 to 1979 and Judas Priest from 1979 to 1989.
Early life
At the age of six Holland began piano lessons, but soon developed a "mania for the drums" in his own words and begged his parents to let him have a set. After his first appearance as a stand-in for a local band, Holland realized he wanted to be a musician. When he was 14 years old, he supplemented his pocket money by playing with another local band called The Drumbeats, and selling furniture and carpets.
As a youngster, Holland listened to traditional jazz. He cited his first rock influence as Johnny Kidd and the Pirates. Later, he became interested in funk music in the vein of Booker T & the MG's, the blues rock of Free and progressive–psychedelic music of Traffic.
Career
Early bands
In early 1965 he was with Northampton band Dorian Gray. Later that year Holland was persuaded to leave and join The Liberators who had recording and management contracts ready within a few weeks to evolve into Pinkerton's Assorted Colours, a pop band that put autoharp to good use, taking after The Loving Spoonful. In 1966 a single, "Mirror Mirror" (released 15 January 1966 on Decca, produced by future The Moody Blues producer Tony Clarke), peaked at No. 8 in the UK Singles Chart.
Finders Keepers
Holland stayed with the band until August 1968, when he joined Finders Keepers, a pop cover outfit. However, Holland continued studio session work. He did not play on a 1969 No. 5 hit single "Smile a Little Smile for Me" released by the band that used to be Pinkerton's Assorted Colours under the name of The Flying Machine.
Finders Keepers, who were soon joined by Mel Galley (guitar) and Glenn Hughes (bass), recorded several singles, with some of the songs now available on various compilations. Soon afterwards the threesome joined forces with vocalist and winds player John Jones and multi-instrumentalist Terry Rowley of The Montanas fame to form a quintet called Trapeze (the band name was Terry Rowley's idea).
Trapeze
Trapeze appeared in the British TV show Colour Me Pop and soon was swamped with offers of recording contracts, including one from The Beatles' Apple. Trapeze, however, settled for the newly formed Threshold label, belonging to The Moody Blues members. The band would soon open for The Moodies and other well-known acts. On Threshold, the band released three records, the debut as a quintet and the rest as a power trio.
Trapeze were gaining momentum at the time, especially in the southern United States, but lost a major contributor as Glenn Hughes decided to leave the band and join Deep Purple for the recording of their Burn album.
Mel Galley and Dave Holland added a bass player and a second guitarist. Dave Holland and Mel Galley also toured as part of John Lodge (musician) – Justin Hayward (of The Moody Blues fame) band The Blue Jays (Blue Jays (album)).
In 1978 Trapeze recorded their last studio LP, Running/Hold On.
Earlier on, both Galley and Holland lent a hand in the recording of Glenn Hughes' first solo album, Play Me Out, offering a unique blend of psychedelic jazz funk. Holland was assisted by Mark Nauseef on percussion.
In 1979 and 1980, Holland recorded some drum parts for Justin Hayward's solo albums, Songwriter and Night Flight.
Judas Priest
Holland left Trapeze and joined Judas Priest in August 1979. He played drums on many of Judas Priest's platinum albums, such as British Steel, Screaming for Vengeance, Defenders of the Faith, Turbo and Ram It Down.
During the 1980s, Holland also collaborated with guitarist Robin George, as part of his band Life and on George's solo project, Dangerous Music.
In 1989, personal problems (health and family issues) and musical differences forced Holland to leave Judas Priest. He was replaced by original Saints Or Sinners drummer Scott Travis, who had also previously played in the band Racer X.