He left school to train as an electrician and in 1970 he started playing rhythm guitar with his pals in a four piece rock cover band called Flashback.
[2] During the punk era, he, alongside drummer Chris Joyce, played in a band called Fast Breeder and was managed by Alan Erasmus, who later co-founded Factory Records with Tony Wilson.
[3] In 1978, the pair, alongside Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias bassist Tony Bowers, singer Phil Rainford (replaced after months by Colin Sharp), and former Nosebleeds guitarist Vini Reilly, founded the post-punk band The Durutti Column.
[citation needed] However, the five-piece line-up did not last long, and after releasing A Factory Sample, a compilation by various artists which contained two of their songs, Rowbotham, alongside Sharp, Bowers, and Joyce, left Reilly.
[6] In his memory, the Madchester band Happy Mondays wrote a song called "Cowboy Dave", released on the album Yes Please!, in 1992.