Profile: David Soul

Biography

David Soul spent his formative years living with his family in Germany. At the age of 18 he accompanied his father to Mexico; while there he was given his first guitar and taught the local folk songs. When he returned to the US he took a job singing Mexican folk songs in a Minneapolis coffee house to help fund his studies.

David’s first appearance on television was in Flipper in 1966, closely followed by a role in one of the earliest episodes of Star Trek.

In 1973 Clint Eastwood offered David a role in Magnum Force, the second in the series of Dirty Harry films. In the wake of its success, Soul was cast as ‘Hutch’ in the 70s detective series, Starsky & Hutch.

The success of Starsky and Hutch gave Soul the opportunity to return to his passion for music and singing. As a singer/songwriter, he topped the international pop charts during the seventies with hits including Don’t Give Up On Us, Baby.

Since then, Soul has had numerous TV, film and theatre successes, and has performed in many Radio 4 dramas and readings. He is still singing: his new single, a Cuban-style re-recording of Don’t Give Up On Us, Baby, will be released on 11 August, and his retrospective album Looking Back - The Very Best of David Soul will be released on 1 September.

During the 1997 general election, he campaigned with his close friend and former BBC war correspondent, Independent Martin Bell in his successful bid to unseat Neil Hamilton and become a Member of Parliament. In 2004, Soul became a UK Citizen.

• David Soul official site