QUINCY JONES LAUNCHES DAVID’S CAREER AS MUSIC PRODUCER

In 1983 while seeking a new path forward, David met with the legendary Quincy Jones through his managers Fitzgerald Hartley who shared offices with Jones.

David recalls: Quincy said to me “you produced and wrote those incredible Ambrosia hits, why not produce other artists?” I replied “I’d love to but how do I start?” Quincy said “you should produce Patti Austin for my label Qwest” to which I replied “yes please, thank you!” Quincy added “only one catch - you must introduce me to Leonard Bernstein, he’s my hero,” to which I replied “done!”

This led to David producing three albums over five years for Patti Austin, including the Grammy-winning “But Who May Abide…” from Handel’s Messiah-A Soulful Celebration; along with her acclaimed Qwest standards album The Real Me; and the GRP album classic: Carry On.

Circa 1984 Quincy asked David to write a song for daytime TV heartthrob Jack Wagner from General Hospital, who Jones had signed to his label. That song, co-written with Glen Ballard and Cliff Magness, became the #1 CHR smash “All I Need,” Wagner’s only hit, and a gold record.

David has since gone on to produce platinum and gold-selling Grammy-nominated records over the last 30 years, including Kenny Loggins’ 3-million selling Grammy-nominated Return to Pooh Corner LP, as well as records for Aretha Franklin, Selena, Natalie Cole, Michael McDonald, Linda Ronstadt (Disney’s Cinderella) Brian McKnight, Phil Collins, CeCe Winans, Trisha Yearwood, and two tracks on Wynonna’s gold album The Other Side.

Career film and TV highlights include usages of David’s songs for hit movies such as Judd Apatow's #1 blockbuster 2007 comedy Knocked Up; Taylor Hackford’s 1987 film White Nights; and a duet with Bette Midler for the iconic movie Beaches (#1 double-platinum soundtrack.) David wrote five songs for Goldie Hawn’s Wildcats. For the Arthur movie #1 Platinum soundtrack starring Dudley Moore, David co-wrote “Poor Rich Boy” with Burt Bacharach.

He penned “Our Love” (w/ Michael McDonald) as the end title song for Richard Gere and Kim Basinger’s film No Mercy. More recently David composed a significant amount of music for the indie film Gallow's Road, starring Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters) and Kevin Sorbo (Hercules); and music for Director Robert (Coppola) Schwartzman’s 2018 movie Dreamland.

For TV, David wrote all music for Roseanne Barr’s Roseanne talk show on NBC; and in 2006 he wrote all music and cues for Rick Dees' radio show on Movin’ 93.9 Los Angeles.