DAVE Warwick can see things in people which others might miss.

It may come from experience or maybe intuition but his knack for seeing hidden talent has made him one of the north west’s most successful agents.

The Woolston resident discovered Rick Astley when he was working at his dad’s garden centre in Newton-le-Willows and transformed Carol Smillie from a game show host to a TV star.

His current success story is Ranvir Singh who went from being a regional news presenter to an award-winning presenter on Good Morning Britain and ITV News.

Dave told Weekend: “If I really believe in someone I will move heaven and earth to get try to get them to where I think they should be.

“My biggest success with my former partner Tony Graham was with Rick Astley.

“This was just a lad that was singing in a band in Newton-le-Willows and he was working in the daytime putting sheds up for his dad.

“If you turned around and said there’s a ginger haired lad who works in his dad’s garden centre and he’s going to become an international pop star, people wouldn’t believe you.

“In fact the first time I took Rick and his band FBI to RCA Records the A&R man said: ‘Nice band but it’s a northern club act’.

“The next time I saw him he was celebrating Rick’s number one record.”

In fact, it was just around the corner from where Dave now lives in Woolston that he introduced Rick to Pete Waterman at Monk Social Club.

The dad-of-one added: “You get a gut feeling and you think: ‘I could do something with this person’, especially when you know what’s going on in the business.

“I’ve just picked up on a young girl called Ami Sekhon who runs a dog training school in Warrington and I believe there’s a lot more to her.

“She’s got a really good life story to tell. I’m talking to the BBC about her at the moment.”

Dave, whose mum May ran a joke shop in Buttermarket Street, broke into media management when he started representing Bob Greaves, who was the face of Granada Reports at the time.

The former Richard Fairclough Boys School pupil then met presenter Gordon Burns at Bob’s 40th birthday bash and ended up managing him.

Dave said: “Gordon is still a client and still one of my best friends.

“He got The Krypton Factor and then he did Surprise Surprise with Cilla Black and lots of other things and it was all done on a handshake.”

Dave also represented Carol Smillie for more than 20 years when she was struggling to change the public’s perception of her as a game show host on Wheel of Fortune.

He added: “I really believed in her and she made me the godfather to her daughter.

“I had her on everything. She was doing Holiday, Summer Holiday, Smillie’s People, which was her own chat show, the National Lottery and Changing Rooms which she became very famous for.

“That all went through me and my office. I loved taking Carol from where she was and making her into that big television star that she is.”

Dave even represented Manchester music mogul Tony Wilson for a short while – he was his agent for personal appearances.

He said: “Tony was lovely and what he didn’t know about television wasn’t worth knowing.”

Another big moment in the spotlight for Dave was when he represented Paul Burrell, butler to Princess Diana, after the trial against him collapsed.

Dave set up an exclusive newspaper deal for him with Piers Morgan when he was the editor of the Daily Mirror.

He added: “When I took Paul Burrell on I had every news programme knocking on the door and there were camera crews everywhere.

“It was a media frenzy and I was also trying to look after my other clients but my phones were going all the time.

“All the media people were after us and we could only do one deal with one paper.”

Now aged 67, Dave said he still has no plans to retire.

“I’m enjoying it too much,” he added.

“I still get the same buzz from when I first started and I’m still looking for the next big thing.

“You make of life what you can as you’re only here once.”

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DAVE Warwick got into the entertainment world through his job at Dawson’s Music after finishing school.

In his early days at the Sankey Street shop he became the singer for ‘The Rodneys’, a band named after Rodney Street Boys Club.

But Dave’s days as a singer were short-lived when he overheard the concert secretary at Grappenhall Ex-Serviceman’s Club say to the other members of the band: ‘You are a great group of boys but where did you get that bloody singer from?’

Instead he had one of his first experiences as an agent representing The Rodneys for a short while before finding his feet as a DJ.

Pete Rigby was the resident DJ at the Co-op Hall in Winwick Road at the time and after he left David took over the Saturday night slot.

He also hosted the Young Ones Rock Club at The Parr Hall, introducing the likes of the Rolling Stones, below, and Rod Stewart.

“I just loved entertaining a crowd,” added Dave, who also represented Warrington band Poacher with Tony Graham.

“It wasn’t just a case of shoving records on. I used to get a big buzz from taking a cold crowd of people who didn’t know each other and making it into a party.

“So by the time they left they were on a high and I was on a high. I was a totally different person when I came off stage. I was very quiet.

“But when I was on stage and I was in control of what I was doing I loved every minute of it.

“I became one of the main DJs for the north west and was well known around Warrington.”

Dave’s first agency was called Delrick Entertainments which he set up with George Swindells to represent many of the bands on the scene.

But at the time he was also still working at Dawson’s during the day and DJing at night.

“It was 24/7 really. I was a workaholic,” said Dave.

“If I wasn’t out discoing myself then I was out doing agency work going around the clubs, talking to the concert secretaries, booking the groups or sat in my office phoning people up.”