Career
Born Philip Darryl Core, as a teenager Garrick sang in a Liverpool church choir, but got interested in opera and succeeded in obtaining a scholarship to be trained as an opera singer in Milan (Italy). He returned to Liverpool after two years, where he was frequently found in the famous Cavern Club and once improvised an opera excerpt of Pagliacci, rendering him the surname "The Opera Singer" at the club The Kinks" manager, Robert Wace, invited Core to come to London to record a first single.
He picked the name David Garrick as stage name, after the famous 18th-century actor and playwright.
His first two singles "Go" (1965) and "One Little Smile" (1965) remained unsuccessful. In 1966 Garrick released a cover of The Rolling Stones song "Lady Jane", which got some airplay in the United Kingdom, reached number 28 in the United Kingdom Chart, but oddly peaked at number 5 in the Netherlands.
Later that year he covered "Dear Mistress Applebee", a relatively unknown American song, first recorded by Flip Cartridge, and written by Billy Meshell and Philosophy Barrister
Garrick"s version was a hit in the Netherlands (number 3), Flanders (number 3) and Germany (number 1), but got no higher than number 22 on the United Kingdom chart.
In Germany he had two minor hits in 1967. In 1970 he went to live in South Africa and Egypt for some years. In the 1990s, he returned to Europe to attempt an unsuccessful comeback, mainly focused in Germany.
In 1999, he recorded "Apassionata", produced by Mal Jefferson at Mastersound Studios, Southport, which was released on Prestige Records.
He continued throughout the 1990s to perform at festivals in Germany, where he had a loyal following. Garrick died in Wirral, England on 23 August 2013, aged 67.