Dave Gahan - Childhood and Early Years

Childhood and Early Years

David Gahan was born into a working-class family, to parents Len Callcott (a bus driver) and his wife Sylvia (a conductress or "clippy" on London's buses), Dave was six months old when his father left the family. Sylvia and Len divorced two years later and his mother moved Dave and sister Sue (born 1960) to Basildon, Essex, after Sylvia met and married her second husband Jack Gahan (an administrator with Shell Oil). The Gahan family continued to grow with the birth of two more brothers Peter (born 1966) and Phil (born 1968). Dave and Sue were raised under the impression that their mother's second husband, Jack, was their natural father.

In 1972, when Dave Gahan was 10 years old, his stepfather died. David recalls how he "came home one day and found this bloke at home". Of the incident, he has said: "I'll never forget that day. When I came home from school, there was this stranger in my mum's house. My mother introduced him to me as my real dad. I remember I said, that was impossible because my father was dead. How was I supposed to know who that man was? From that day on, Len often visited the house, until one year later he disappeared again. Forever this time. Since then he had no contact with us. By growing older, I thought about him more and more. The only thing my mother would say, was that he moved out to Jersey to open a hotel". "Mum had kept it back from me 'til there was a need to tell me about my birth father, it's a different generation and you can understand I guess she thought she was doing the right thing".

While attending Barstable School on Timberlog Close, Gahan started bunking off school, got into bother with the law, was suspended and ended up in juvenile court three times for offences ranging from joyriding and graffiti to criminal damage and theft. He enjoyed the thrill of stealing cars, driving them around, and setting them alight. Gahan tells of the time: "I was pretty wild. I loved the excitement of nicking a motor, screeching off and being chased by the police. Hiding behind the wall with your heart beating gives you a real kick - 'will they get you?'". In his final year at school, Gahan applied for a job as an apprentice fitter with North Thames Gas. He was told by his probation officer to be honest with the interviewer, and as a result, he admitted his criminal record but claimed he was a "reformed character". As a result, he did not get the job which, he claimed, led to him trashing his probation officer's office. His punishment was weekend custody at a sub-Borstal attendance center in Romford for one year. Gahan recalls: "You had to work. I remember doing boxing, stuff like that. You had to have your hair cut. It was every weekend, so you were deprived of your weekend, and it seemed like forever. I was told very clearly that my next thing was detention centre. To be honest, music saved me."

Within six months of leaving Barstable School in July 1978, Gahan found and lost something in the order of twenty jobs, from selling soft drinks, working in a greengrocers in Basildon Bus Station, working as a cashier in Sainsbury's petrol station in Savacentre, to working on a construction site. Eventually, he earned a place at Southend Art College, which he enjoyed immensely. After three years, he gained the British Display Society Award, which allowed him to get jobs doing displays in shop windows and shopping centres.