Passionate about the sea and rivers (a love which he owes to his grandfather), he left the Netherlands by boat with 1,000 guilders in his pocket (about two months' living expenses).

These were followed in 1975 by the three hits "Mon cœur est malade" (based on the melody of The Wombles' "Banana Rock", written by Mike Batt), "Dansez maintenant" (based on Glenn Miller's "Moonlight Serenade") and "Du côté de chez Swann".

[4][circular reference] His later hits included "Lettre à Hélène" (1978), "Comment ne pas être amoureux de vous" (1978) and "Allo Elisa" (1979).

He later recorded a new album entitled Toujours le même bleu, which included a title single from which enables him to hit the charts once again.

He later became a co-presenter with Sheila of the TF1 television program Salut les Chouchous; after a year, he assumed the presenter duties alone.

[1] In 2003, he released another autobiographical book, Soit dit en passant... mes années paillettes, which dealt with his life as a showbiz celebrity in the 1970s.

The book also revealed the love story which has united Dave with his lyricist and companion Patrick Loiseau [fr] for more than thirty years.