About The
David Longdon
Foundation
The people who built this for the person they loved.
The David Longdon Foundation was founded by two people who knew David well,
loved him deeply in their own ways, and refuse to let the world forget what he gave to it.
About The
David Longdon
Foundation
The people who built this for the person they loved.
The David Longdon Foundation was founded by two people who knew David well,
loved him deeply in their own ways, and refuse to let the world forget what he gave to it.
Sarah first came into David’s world in 2015, as the artist behind illustrations and cover imagery for Big Big Train’s releases. A friendship grew between them, grounded in a deep and genuine connection. By 2018, that relationship had become something more. Sarah met David’s daughters, Amelia and Eloise, and a strong bond formed between them that has only deepened with time. In April 2020, David and Sarah became engaged. In November 2021, Sarah was with David in the last moments of his life. She has described it as the greatest tragedy and the greatest privilege of hers. The loss, for Sarah, Amelia and Eloise was a devastation that goes beyond words.
It has taken almost five years to find the strength to turn that loss into something which stands for good. Something built with love, with intention and with an unshakeable commitment to keeping David’s memory alive.
Sarah, Amelia and Eloise are the bearers of David’s flame. This Foundation is that flame.
After a successful career as a city lawyer and then as founder and owner of SSQ, a well-regarded recruitment consultancy specialising in legal professionals, Nick Shilton made the decision to retire early and take the commercial and legal acumen he had spent decades building, and turn it towards music. Nick became Big Big Train’s manager in 2018. Under his stewardship, the band has reached new and even greater heights. In the course of that work, a friendship with David formed. When David died, Nick made a private vow to honour their friendship: to stand beside Sarah as she slowly rebuilt her life, to protect David’s memory and to ensure that something lasting and positive could grow from the loss.
When Sarah came to him with the idea for this Foundation, Nick said yes without a moment’s hesitation.
Dave Gregory is one of the most admired guitarists of his generation. Best known for his eighteen years as lead guitarist with XTC, he has spent the decades since building a body of work that spans an extraordinary range of artists, from Peter Gabriel and Marc Almond to Steve Hogarth and Big Big Train. Dave first crossed paths with David in 1996, during the recording of Louis Philippe’s album Jackie Girl. It was the beginning of a musical relationship that would span decades. He went on to contribute to David’s 2004 solo album Wild River, before later joining Big Big Train, where he and David played together for more than ten years.
Few people understand David’s musicality as deeply as Dave does. His presence on the Foundation’s advisory panel is both a privilege and a testament to the bond they shared.
Danny Manners is a pianist, keyboardist, double bassist and composer whose musical range is matched only by his depth of feeling for the work. He has been a key part of Louis Philippe’s musical world for many years, and his contributions to Big Big Train, Cathal Coughlan and many other musical projects speak to a career built on substance and sensitivity in equal measure. Danny first met David through their shared connection to Louis Philippe, and the friendship that followed was genuine and lasting. They went on to play together as part of Big Big Train until Danny’s departure from the band in 2020. He also contributed to the tender and deeply moving album Between A Breath And A Breath, which David recorded with the late Judy Dyble, the original voice of Fairport Convention and a singular figure in the story of British folk rock.
Danny knew David as both a musician and a friend. That combination of understanding makes him an invaluable part of what this Foundation is trying to do.
Gary Bromham is a composer, musician, producer and author with a career that spans some of the most significant names in contemporary music. His work with George Michael, Sheryl Crow, Graham Coxon and The Maccabees reflects both his versatility and his instinct for what makes a great record. He is a complete music professional. Gary first met David in the mid 1990s, when David was signed to Rondor Music. As a musician and producer, Gary soon became part of David’s band, The Gifthorse. It was a friendship rooted in mutual respect and shared musical instinct, and it would prove to be one of the most significant relationships of David’s early career.
Gary’s understanding of David’s talent, and of the music industry more broadly, makes him one of the most important voices on this panel.
Louis Philippe is a French singer-songwriter, musician and one of indiepop’s most enduring and distinctive voices. With more than twenty albums to his name across four decades, he has built a body of work that is entirely his own. Melodically rich, lyrically intelligent and quietly influential, his music has touched far more people than the charts ever reflected. Louis first met David in 1995. David became a long-term member of his band, contributing to a number of his albums over the years. The relationship was more than musical. David cited Louis as a significant influence on his own songwriting development, a testament to the quality of the friendship and the depth of the creative exchange between them.
In many ways, Louis Philippe is where much of David’s story intersects. His place on this panel feels not just fitting, but necessary.
Steve Cadman brings more than thirty years of music industry experience to the Foundation. A former Marketing Director at EMI New Zealand, he has spent his career at the intersection of music and commerce, with a deep understanding of what it takes to build and sustain a presence in an industry that never stands still. Steve first met David in 2019, when he began advising Big Big Train on their digital marketing. What started as a professional relationship quickly became a genuine friendship, built on a shared and encyclopaedic love of music. They recognised in each other a passion that went well beyond the professional.
Steve’s commercial expertise, combined with his personal connection to David, makes him an ideal steward of the Foundation’s growth and reach.
Jerry Ewing is one of the most respected and widely read voices in rock music journalism. The founder of Classic Rock Magazine and current Editor of Prog, he has spent decades identifying and championing music which deserves to be heard. As a broadcaster and writer, his passion for the form is evident in everything he does. Jerry first became aware of David through Big Big Train’s landmark album The Underfall Yard, a record that became a firm personal favourite. They met in person in 2013, when Big Big Train received the Breakthrough Award at the Prog Awards. A friendship grew from that meeting, one that deepened significantly when David began a relationship with Jerry’s sister, Sarah, to whom he would later become engaged.
Jerry has spoken openly about what David meant to him. “I bitterly regret not being able to officially welcome David into our family,” he has said. Words that speak to a loss that was both deeply personal and profound.
His involvement in this Foundation is an act of love as much as it is one of expertise.