David Soul (born David Richard Solberg; August 28, 1943 – January 4, 2024) was an American-British actor and singer. With a career spanning five decades, he rose to prominence for portraying Detective Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchinson in the American television series Starsky & Hutch from 1975 to 1979. His other notable roles included Joshua Bolt on Here Come the Brides from 1968 to 1970 and as the lead actor in the 1979 American TV movie Salem's Lot. Soul also had moderate success as a film actor when he portrayed Officer John Davis in Magnum Force in 1973.
During his career, Soul also found success as a singer, achieving a number one single on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1977 with "Don't Give Up on Us", which also peaked at number one in the United Kingdom and Canada. He achieved a further four top 10 entries and an additional number one single on the UK Singles Chart with "Silver Lady". In the 1990s, Soul moved to the UK and found renewed success on the West End stage. He also made cameo appearances in British TV shows, including Little Britain, Holby City, and Lewis.[1][2]
Early life
Soul was born on August 28, 1943, in Chicago, Illinois,[3] and was of Norwegian descent. His mother, June Joanne (Nelson), was a teacher, and his father, Dr. Richard W. Solberg, was a Lutheran minister, professor of History and Political Science, and director of Higher Education for the Lutheran Church in America (now part of the ELCA).[4] Both of Soul's grandfathers were evangelists.[5] Dr. Solberg was also senior representative for Lutheran World Relief during the reconstruction of Germany after World War II from 1953 until 1956.[6] Because of this, the family moved frequently during Soul's youth, later learning Spanish.[2][7] David's brother Daniel became a Lutheran pastor.[8]
While in Mexico, inspired by students who taught him to play the guitar, Soul changed his direction and decided to follow his passion for music.[11] Upon returning from Mexico, he was hired to sing in a club at the University of Minnesota, The 10 O'Clock Scholar.[12]
Career
Soul began performing on stage as an actor in the mid-1960s, when he became a founding member of the Firehouse Theater in Minneapolis. He traveled with the company to New York City in 1965, appearing in Bertolt Brecht's Baal and John Arden's Serjeant Musgrave's Dance.[13][14] Soul first gained national attention as the "Covered Man," appearing on The Merv Griffin Show in 1966 and 1967, on which he sang while wearing a mask. He explained: "My name is David Soul, and I want to be known for my music."[15] The same year, he made his television debut in Flipper.[16]
During the mid-1970s, Soul returned to his singing roots. He scored one US hit with "Don't Give Up on Us" (1977) which reached No. 1 in the US and the UK.[25][26] "Silver Lady" (1977) hit No. 1 in the UK.[16] From 1976 to 1982, he toured extensively in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and South America.[27]
In 2001 and 2002, he appeared in Holby City as Alan Fletcher.[37]
In 2003, he appeared (as himself) in the first series of the BBC's Little Britain.[27] In 2004, he appeared in Agatha Christie's Poirot – Death on the Nile in the role of Andrew Pennington (he had also starred in the 1989 film adaptation of Christie's Appointment with Death).[27] Soul was a guest on the BBC's Top Gear.[27] He was one of the fastest drivers to have appeared on the show, finishing the lap in 1:54:00,[38] but managed to break the car's gearbox (and subsequently a backup car's) very close to the finish.[39]
In June 2012, Soul made a one-week appearance with Jerry Hall at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, in a reprise of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated play by A. R. Gurney, Love Letters.[47] On July 29, 2012, he appeared in an episode of the British television detective drama series Lewis, playing a murder victim.[48] In 2013, Soul appeared in the Scottish film Filth, singing "Silver Lady".[49] In 2014, Soul appeared in a British television commercial for National Express singing "Silver Lady" while driving a coach.[27]
Personal life
Soul in 2013
Soul was married five times and had five sons and a daughter.[7]
In 1964, Soul married Miriam "Mim" Russeth. The couple had one child before divorcing in 1965.[2][50][51]
Soul's second marriage was to actress Karen Carlson. They married in 1968, after they met on the set of the television series Here Come the Brides in which Carlson had a role.[52] They had a son together, Jon-Kristjian, before the couple divorced in 1977.[52]
During the years he was filming Starsky & Hutch, Soul had an open relationship with actress Lynne Marta, who died seven days after him.[53]
In 1980, three years after his second divorce, Soul married Patti Carnel-Sherman, ex-wife of Bobby Sherman.[2] Soul was ordered to attend therapy classes for alcoholism and anger management after attacking her when she was seven months pregnant with his child.[54][2] Soul was step-father to Carnel-Sherman's children. The couple divorced in 1986.[2]
A year later In 1987, Soul married Singaporean-American actress Julia Nickson.[27] They had a daughter, China Soul, who is a singer-songwriter.[55] Nickson urged Soul to seek help for his excessive drinking, persuading him to enter a rehabilitation facility in 1989.[56]
Soul married his fifth wife, Helen Snell in 2010.[57] They had started a relationship in 2002 while working on the British stage production of Deathtrap.[58][59]
Soul was a three-pack-a-day cigarette smoker for 50 years.[61] Although he had stopped smoking ten years prior to his death, he was seriously affected by COPD and had also had a lung removed due to cancer.[61][62] Soul died in London on January 4, 2024, at age 80.[27]
^The Da Capo Companion to 20th-century Popular Music - Page 879
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Phil Hardy - 1995 In the eighties he recorded only intermittently (The Best Days of My Life, Energy, 1982) before giving up music to concentrate on his acting career. ...
^Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 515. ISBN1-904994-10-5.
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