Dave Stewart, the co-founder of Eurythmics and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, has revealed that his path to pop stardom began with a shattered dream of becoming a professional footballer. The 72-year-old musician, who will perform at the Heritage Festival at Sandringham this summer, said he was completely obsessed with football as a child and dreamed of playing for his beloved Sunderland AFC.
A Childhood Dream Cut Short
“Like every kid in Sunderland,” Stewart said, recalling how he played for three different teams on Saturdays and continued under street lights until dark. However, at age 14, a badly broken knee ended his football aspirations. “It was very muddy and raining, as it always seemed to be then. I was taking a corner and another kid skidded towards me and caught my knee. It made a really horrible noise,” he remembered.
The injury forced him to stay home, where he discovered music. “I was stuck at home recovering. My mum had separated from my dad and left, so he was there all depressed and my older brother was away at college. It was a really hard time. It felt like the end of the world. But it was 1966 and you’d turn on the radio and it was The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Who blaring out on Radio One. Then there would be Sandie Shaw and Petula Clark. It was a bombardment of different styles.”
From Guitar to Global Fame
During his recovery, Stewart taught himself to play guitar using his brother’s instrument, starting with just three strings. After moving to London in the early 1970s, he met Annie Lennox, a Scottish girl from Aberdeen. Together, they formed Eurythmics, which became one of the most successful pop duos of the 1980s, with hits like “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),” “Here Comes the Rain Again,” “Thorn in My Side,” “Love is a Stranger,” and “Would I Lie to You?”
Stewart now performs with Dave Stewart’s Eurythmics Songbook, a project launched after Lennox stepped back from touring in 1999. The live concert debuted in 2019 at the Royal Festival Hall with guests Beverley Knight, Nile Rodgers, and Emeli Sande, and expanded into a 13-date European tour in 2023. The Sweet Dreams 40th anniversary tour (2023-2024) took the band across the UK, Europe, and the US. Australian singer Vanessa Amorosi handles lead vocals, backed by an all-female band.
“We have done about 70 shows now,” Stewart said. “I have known Vanessa for about 16 years. She is a platinum artist in Australia, hugely successful and well-known there, and she has the most amazing singing voice. She also has a great range, which of course she needs for Eurythmics songs because Annie had a great range.” He added that Amorosi’s voice complements the band’s dynamic: “She sounds very different to Annie but is completely mesmerising. No one is thinking ‘where’s Annie?’ when they hear us play. In fact, with the band I play with being all-female there is a really different dynamic on stage which I love – plus I get to play my guitar more.”
Football and Music: A Lifelong Connection
Stewart equates performing live to the thrill of football. “For me playing live is my favourite thing, apart from songwriting. It is like being at a football match. You are only in that moment and the crowd are there with you and when you start playing one of those songs, it feels like when a goal is scored. When you are up there playing, you can’t think about anything else. It is magical, the noise of the crowd, everybody on the edge of their seat – it’s like watching the World Cup.”
He noted that crowds still erupt at the first drum beat of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),” which peaked at No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart in March 1983 and topped the US charts six months later. Surprisingly, Eurythmics’ only UK No. 1 single was “There Must be an Angel (Playing With My Heart)” in 1985. Stewart’s favourite songs to perform live include “Here Comes the Rain,” “Missionary Man,” and “Sweet Dreams.”
A Storied Career and Family Life
Eurythmics spent a decade at the top, selling over 75 million records worldwide and winning a Grammy and Brit Award before parting ways in 1990. Stewart, dubbed “The Musician’s Musician” by Rolling Stone, has since written and produced for Ringo Starr, Stevie Nicks, Mick Jagger, and Tom Petty. He has won a Grammy, a Golden Globe, four Ivor Novello Awards, and four Brit Awards (three for Best British Producer and one for Lifetime Achievement). Stewart and Lennox reunited in 2022 for their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Before Eurythmics, the duo were a couple for four years and performed in The Tourists, reaching No. 4 in 1979 with a cover of Dusty Springfield’s “I Only Want to Be with You.” Stewart noted, “It’s funny – in the four years we were together as a couple, we never wrote a single song, either together or separately, but when we split up we wrote 120 songs. We just suddenly had so much material. That is why the songs are so special and so emotional. Even Annie’s solo songs are about that time.”
Stewart remains in contact with Lennox, occasionally dining with her husband, Dr. Mitch Besser, and his own third wife, Dutch photographer Anoushka Fisz. They married in 2001 and have two daughters, Indya and Kaya. Stewart also has two sons, Sam and Django, from his second marriage to singer Siobhan Fahey of Bananarama and Shakespears Sister. Three of his children have pursued music; Indya, however, became an interior designer after a brief YouTube attempt. Kaya has performed live with her father and auditioned for American Idol in 2023 with Stewart on guitar.
World Cup Fever and Future Projects
Stewart, an avid football fan, admitted he has been glued to the World Cup: “I’m not getting much work done as I’m sometimes having to watch three games a day. At last though the Americans seem to finally understand what it’s all about. They talk about the baseball world series, but it isn’t the world, it’s just them. The World Cup is all the countries of the world. And I’ve been telling them for years it’s football, not soccer. I am thinking England-France in the final. Well, that’s what I hope.”
After the tournament, Stewart will return to the UK for performances and to watch Sunderland AFC play Arsenal at the Stadium of Light on September 12. “My son Sam is an Arsenal fan and wants to come so that will be interesting,” he joked.
Stewart is also working on a semi-autobiographical musical film, “Ebony McQueen,” based on his early life. Announced in August 2024 by Dave Stewart Entertainment, the film is to be directed by Shekhar Kapur. “I think we are on about our eighth draft of writing it. Like all films these days it is taking a while to get off the ground. It’s still in what they call pre-production, but I am hopeful.” Some filming will take place in Sunderland, though Stewart now splits his time between homes in the Bahamas, Nashville, and Los Angeles.
Dave Stewart performs at HeritageLive Festival at Sandringham on 20 August, headlined by Lionel Richie. His forthcoming album, “The Way It Was Back Then,” is released on September 18.
