THE funeral of former Deaf School singer Sam Davis, aka Eric Shark, will take place in Liverpool next Tuesday (January 19).

Sam, another of the city's adoptees, and originally from Birmingham, had been suffering with emphysema. He died last Thursday in hospital, leaving a wife, Joan, and a son and a daughter from a previous marriage.

He was 59 and although he managed to appear at Deaf School's comeback gigs at the Liverpool Everyman last year, sitting at a table at the side of the stage, and singing aided by an oxygen cylinder, he had been in ill health for several years and eventually ran out of time while on the list for a lung transplant.

Ken Testi, the band's manager, tells us the funeral service will take place at St Clare's Presbytery, Arundel Avenue, L17, on Tuesday at 12.10pm.

Friends and fans of the band, and there are a-many among Confidential's readers, are welcome to attend, say Sam's family, and they are similarly invited to raise a glass at the wake taking place at Parr Street's Studio 2 from 1.30pm.