Inside rapper Dave’s incredible rise – from tough childhood to four Brit nominations and THAT Glastonbury moment
FROM a heartbreaking deportation saga to crime heartache, rapper Dave has had a tough – and incredible – rise to the top.
Yesterday, tributes bizarrely poured in to remember the musician after false rumours claimed he had been stabbed to death on his birthday.
However, none of it was true, the Mercury Prize winner was just the latest victim of a celebrity death hoax on social media.
Santan Dave hasn’t addressed the rumours publicly but the singer’s representatives have stated he is not deceased.
Since the news of his “death” broke, Dave has been active on Twitter and Instagram, where he posted a selfie of himself in front of a London bus.
The hoax was just the latest in a long line of shocking events to afflict Brixton-born rapper’s life.
Here we take a look at the 24-year-old’s wild life so far.
Baby ripped from father’s arms
At just four months old, Dave was ripped from his father Frank’s arms after he was deported over visa issues.
The clergyman, who used to volunteer in a London church, believed he had entered the country on a missionary visa – but actually had one for visitors.
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Frank feared returning to his homeland of Nigeria because his own father had been murdered by a religious cult.
But his appeal for asylum was turned down by Labour Home Secretary Jack Straw and when the police arrived to take him away, he was holding baby Dave.
The rapper recalled this trauma on Psychodrama, where he said: “I ain’t got a memory of when dad was around… I used to cry about my dad until my f***ing eyes burnt.”
Crime horror
Mum Dorris faced a difficult choice but chose to stay in Britain because it was where all three of her sons had been born.
Despite being the youngest child, Dave would need to grow up fast and become the ‘man of the house’ after his siblings were jailed.
In 2013, brother Christopher was given a minimum of 18 years life sentence for the brutal murder of Sofyen Belamouadden.
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The victim, 15, had been punched and stabbed by a gang of 20 teenagers in front of commuters at Victoria station in London.
Four years later in 2017, Dave’s eldest brother Benjamin was jailed for fraud.
In the absence of his father and siblings, the future rapper had to take care of himself.
His hardworking mum was forced to work shifts from 5am until late at night to keep the family afloat.
“It was tough for her and tough for me,” Dave previously told The Sun.
Mum’s disappointment after superstardom
When he was 16, Dave went to sixth form college in Richmond upon Thames to study philosophy, ethics, law and sound design.
He started releasing music on YouTube and soon found his rapping attracted hundreds of thousands of views.
That success led to disappointment for his mum, because Dave ditched plans to study law at university in favour of music.
He recalled: “When it gets to that time to tell your mum that you’re not going to university, which has been her grand plan for you for the last 18 years, all of a sudden 700,000 YouTube views mean absolutely nothing.”
Dave’s track Thiago Silva, named after the Brazilian footballer of the same name, went viral when Dave invited a young fan called Alex Mann to rap it on stage with him at Glastonbury festival in 2019.
Before he had even released his debut album, he picked up the Ivor Novello award for Best Contemporary Song in 2018 for the track Question Time, which delved into issues such as Syria and the Grenfell fire.
One year later, Dave scooped the Mercury Music Prize for his debut album Psychodrama and in 2020, won British Album of the Year at the Brit Awards.
‘Killer worship’ controversy
At the same time, the rapper courted controversy when he lambasted Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the song Black.
Dave was criticised for calling his killer brother Christopher his “hero” and saluting him when he picked up his Mercury Music Prize.
The victim’s mother, Naina Ghailan, said it was “disgusting” that the album had won because it featured the voice of Dave’s brother in the form of a phone conversation.
But it didn’t halt Psychodrama’s success after it went gold and spawned three top ten singles – Disaster, Streatham and Location.
The rapper’s fame allowed him to branch out into acting when he played ex-con Modie in the British crime drama Top Boy, which streamed on Netflix.
And it didn’t stop there – one of Dave’s tracks was remixed by Drake and led to him performing on stage with the Canadian hitmaker.
Later, he managed to get UK grime king Stormzy, England footballer Raheem Sterling and fashion designer Ozwald Boateng to appear in the music video for his track Black.
By 2020, in a bizarre clash of worlds, Dave collaborated with Sir David Attenborough for a special episode of the documentary series Planet Earth – where he played piano alongside Hans Zimmer.
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In March this year, he bagged his second UK number-one single with Starlight – four years after his previous Funky Friday in 2018.
While only 24 years old, Dave’s wealth of experience has connected him with fans and in turn, it appears to be translating into chart success.