All photography, artwork and text (C) David Okangba unless otherwise stated

And welcome to some extracts from my ongoing autobiography. I was born David Low at Queen Charlotte's Hospital in Hammersmith, London, on Tuesday, April 22nd, 1958, making me 67 years old as of Earth Day 2025.

The name change occurred in 2009 and is better explained in full in the autobiography. A printer by trade, I’ve spent the last fifty years doing odd jobs while working to sort myself out emotionally and searching for "purpose" and a place where I might actually fit in this lifetime.

I've had my fair share of upheavals, and I think it’s fair to say that “chronic” depression has been my longest-serving companion. Like many others, I’ve also felt somewhat disenfranchised from the pack and appallingly treated at times, which led me to reflect that in my own sometimes “shameful” behaviour that inverted into self-loathing, and a suicidal tendency. It’s been an arduous journey for such a sensitive soul, as is evident in the more "honest" if sometimes “raw” nature of my written work and music.

It’s been a journey of self-discovery, “admission,” and finding resolution that I’d like to share with those of you who may have your own struggles, to let you know that you’re not alone, but “importantly”, that if we really persevere, there are often ways we can overcome and find the light, no matter how late in life...

So to lead in...

...if your mother and father are dead, then doesn’t that make you
an “orphan” too? And how in one sentence, a life can suddenly
be hoisted up the pecking order as we join a large family we
never even realised existed...

“A love born of deceit, even if it rescues, will always carry in its cargo, suspicion!”

‘Springtime’

Rabbits and nature itself refreshingly cavort beneath the Spring undergrowth. A glorious sight indeed, as ducks and birds flirtatiously spar on the ripples of another year. Aaaagh, the joys of the awakening aroma, and the sweet smell of perfume, on this, another Spring day, amidst the natural beauty of my motherland, this village, they call Millbrook!

Dave Low - May 4th 1995

CHAPTER 4: 1984 - 1989
The Last Chance Saloon Still Calls Me

More extracts and updates to follow in 2025…