Get the rave on - Song about Sunderland's Dave the Rave goes viral

Dave the Rave, whose real name is Dave Common, is well known in Sunderland for his love of rave and he teamed up with long time friend Elaine Rennie to record a version of track Rave Heaven that’s been viewed more than 100,000 times in three days.

Singer and songwriter Elaine, who came third in the 1998 finals of Stars In Their Eyes performing as Belinda Carlise, began ad-libbing when Dave started singing Rave Heaven, which was originally released by Belgian producer Dave McCullen.

Their version captured the imagination of people on social media and the pair are now hoping to record it properly.

Elaine, who lives in Grindon, said: “Me and Dave have known each for years and music has really helped us through the Lockdowns. Dave was supposed to be on The Voice but he couldn’t do it because of Lockdown.

"We were singing outside of my house and Dave began singing Rave Heaven. I didn’t realise it was already a song and began doing my own verse and people really liked it.

"We can’t believe how many shares and views it’s getting, it’s creeping up to a thousand views an hour. I think people are just finding it really cheerful.”

She added: “We’re really hoping we can record it in a studio when we can.”

The pair are planning to do weekly performances at 4pm on Sundays to keep people entertained in Lockdown, either in Galashiels Road or outside KFC in Pennywell which can be viewed on their Facebook pages.

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