Oakham has a new town councillor and you could say he has sax appeal.

Dave Graham is a freelance saxophonist, who also plays in the well-known 70s group Showaddywaddy.

He also runs the Piano cafe in Oakham and also a music agency, which has booked thousands of professional acts across the UK and beyond.

But it was a passion for Oakham and its community that led to a new string to his bow joining Oakham Town Council.

The 50-year-old grew up in Rutland and started coming to Oakham when he joined Oakham School in 1981 aged just 10.

Dave told Nub News: "After studying at The Royal Northern College of Music and Manchester University, I moved back to Rutland in 1997 and have been here ever since.

"Yes, I was passionate about music at school, studied it at university and have worked in it ever since whether that be as a teacher, performer, booking agent, manager or promoter."

Dave worked at Oakham School from 1999 to 2008 teaching saxophone, clarinet, jazz piano, harmony and counterpoint, IB and A Level music. He also coached and conducted the Jazz Orchestra, Saxophone Choir and Saxophone Quartets.

In his last two years at the school, he was Head of Woodwind but left in 2008 to concentrate on running his business DG Music which he started in 2004. He also has a related business, featuring exclusive acts, as shown in the You Tube video above.

It was Dave's music interests that eventually led him to join the band Showaddywaddy.

He explained: "I became friends with lead singer Dave Bartram in the mid 90s when he managed an original pop group that I was a member of called 'De Milo' with Miles Nottage.

"In 2008 Dave asked me to join the band on saxophone and I toured with them until December 2011 when Dave decided to retire.

"It felt like the right time and I had other things I needed to focus on at the time. Fast forward to July 2020 and Dave (in his role as band manager) rang and asked if I would consider rejoining and… here we are!"

But there is more to Dave's musical background.

He continued: "I've always dabbled in lots of styles of music. I was trained classically as a clarinettist, pianist and saxophonist (yes it's a classical instrument too!) but I started guitar when I was 14 and played in many rock/pop groups.

"When I was at college I took a deeper interest in jazz and honed my skills for that on saxophone. Today, I freelance as a professional saxophonist playing mostly rock, pop, and jazz. Over the last few years I have toured with The Temptations, Heatwave, Odyssey, Andy Abraham (X Factor) and of course Showaddywaddy. "

Such a broad range of musical talent and interest helped fuel DG Music to success after it was launched in 2004.

"Since then have booked thousands of professional bands and musicians for events all over the UK and beyond. We manage artists like The Houndogs, The Atlantics, harpist Eleanor Turner and represent 100s of others."

However, the pandemic and related lockdowns brought a lack of live events so he transformed his premises in South Street into a record shop and cafe called The Piano Cafe "which goes from strength to strength."

"DG Music is slowly coming back too as we emerge from the pandemic."

Outside work, Dave, who is divorced and currently single has "two lovely grown up daughters aged 21 and 19."

But he also cares much about Oakham.

He said: "I have lived and worked here for most of my life and I know a lot of the community. I was made aware of the vacancy on the council and decided it was perhaps time to step up and help. I am only interested in supporting positive ideas to help the town and to maintain and if possible make it a better place to live."

However, he currently believes it is too early for him to say what the main issues are facing the town and its council.

"I need to spend some time understanding more fully what the council does and then I can hopefully provide positive input."

And whilst parliament has a couple of musician politicians, Rutland's current MP Alicia Kearns need not worry.

Dave said: "No, I have no interest in being affiliated to a political party. I'm just a normal working guy that is offering to do what I can to help the town and community."

He added: "I think we all need to keep in mind what a difficult time this has been for everyone over the last 18 months. Some of us have lost loved ones, or businesses and all of us just want to get back to some sense of normality. So, we should all show compassion where we can and try to help each other do that. "