In his late teens, Dave came to a fork in his multi-optioned career path. Having been training with Toronto's York University Gymnastics team and given the opportunity to try out for the Canadian Olympic Squad, he had also been quite successful singing and playing piano on stage at several local bars. His choice was to make music and entertainment his priority. 

 

Shortly after taking his solo show on the road, opportunity knocked once again when he accepted an offer to be an Actor/Stunt Performer for a theme park stunt show, and in just two seasons his leadership and athletic proficiency helped land him a seat in the Directors chair in Sydney, Australia. While writing, directing and performing in the Australian production of "Don Quixotes Great Pirate Attack", the evenings were left wide open for Dave to exercise his talents as a singer/songwriter. 

 

His down-under accomplishments include honing his solo skills, and the formation of a band known as "Dave Bootle & the Producers," a tight aggregation of competent musicians performing Dave's Aussie-written originals. Among those is a track entitled "Australia," which his critics and fans agree could be a tourism anthem. 

 

Even though his first love was music, Dave couldn't seem to stay away from his gymnastics roots. When not performing solo or with The Producers, he found himself working as a stunt man with a Sydney based agency on television commercials and Australian and American film productions. If he wasn't jumping from a 100 foot cliff into rough seas, falling through a trap door with a noose around his neck or engaging in a high speed police chase, you would probably find him setting himself on fire in practice for the next big stunt! Coming from a strict gymnastics background, he generally aced all the familiar big screen stunts with the same professionalism he employs on any musical project. 

 

Four years Down Under and the time had come once more to decide on a career path; music or movies. That decision came easily after having a brush with death on a stunt that had gone terribly wrong. While grasping a pulley attached to a wire strung between two multi-story buildings, the apparatus collapsed sending Dave plummeting sixty feet only to land on a wrought iron fence which ultimately saved him from another sixty foot fall to bare concrete! His injuries were enough to convince him to leave the stunt business and return to Canada in late 1988. 

Thousands of his fans are glad he did. 

 

Dave took on music full time and while perfecting his professional repertoire in southern Ontario, Canada, where he quickly became known for his big sound and outrageous antics on stage, he also ventured to write and produce his first album of original tracks. The result was the title track "I'm In Trouble," along with an eclectic collection of Pop material that showcases Dave's versatility as a writer, vocalist, musician and producer. The CD was supported by a powerful video of "I'm In Trouble," and the artful treatment of "Baby Come Back", both of which drew critical acclaim thanks to airplay on MuchMusic television. Dave also appeared on CITY-TV's popular "Breakfast Television" on two occasions.