David "Pick" Withers (born April 4, 1948) is the original drummer for the Rock Band
Dire Straits and played on their first four albums, which included hit singles such as "Sultans of Swing", "Romeo and Juliet", "Private Investigations" and "Skateaway."
He became a professional musician at the age of 17, joining a band called The Berkeley Squares when they went to Germany.
After six months of touring in Germany, the band returned to England, struggling to maintain their professional status, whence Pick jumped ship and joined a band called thePrimitives, who went on to become very successful in Italy.
David Pick Withers was house drummer at Dave Edmunds' Rockfield Studios, where he recorded with Michael Chapman, Andy Fairweather-Lowe, Nick Lowe, Del Shannon, Hobo, The Shortwave Band, Dave Edmunds, Foghat, Ian Anderson, Bob Dylan, Brewer's Droop and many more.
Knopfler met Withers in 1973 in London when he joined the blues band Brewer's Droop, for which Withers was playing at the time.
Withers's style with Dire Straits was distinct for being restrained, favoring spare snare drum and hi-hat combinations over heavy beats, speed and pyrotechnical flourishes. Like the guitar playing of the band's famous frontman, Mark Knopfler, Withers's style was blues-based and instantly recognizable as part of the pop music the band perfected beginning around the midseventies.
In 1982, after Dire Straits completed the album Love Over Gold, Withers left the band to spend more time with his family and to pursue jazz music.
After leaving Dire Straits, Pick worked with many great musicians such as Gerry Rafferty, Joan Baez, Robert Plant, Phil Carmen, The Blues Band (Paul Jones), Dennis LeCorriere, Dave Kelly Band, Gary Fletcher Band and many more.
2021:
New Band "Slim Pickin's" with Pick Withers, Marcus Cliffe, Luca Boscagin....