Macbeth was on Newcastle United Football Club’s books before being conscripted into the army. He was discovered as a pop singer when he appeared on the Carroll Levis Talent Show, which led to him making several appearances on local Tyne-Tees Television (some under the pseudonym David North). In 1959, while still working as a commercial traveller, he made his debut single for Pye Records, ‘Mr. Blue’, a cover of the Fleetwood’s US number 1, which proved to be his only Top 20 success. In 1962 he represented Britain at the European Knokke Festival in Belgium and later that year his cover of Bobby Vinton’s US chart-topper ‘Roses Are Red (My Love)’ entered the Top 40. He worked the cabaret circuit and recorded on Decca Records and Piccadilly Records in the early 60s before going into the agency side of the music business in 1965. He returned briefly to recording in 1969, under the guidance of producer Tony Hatch, but further chart success was not forthcoming.