Having been involved in music for over two and a half decades, David is no stranger to the process of crafting and performing great songs.
After a long hiatus from performing as part of a band, he decided to release music under his name; these initial releases have gained some critical acclaim. This has encouraged David to continue to go forward and work on his music, culminating in the release of his debut album.
It has taken several years to get over the anxiety of putting himself out there as an artist and having the courage to share his innermost feelings in the songs he writes.
David’s love of music started at an early age. Growing up in the east end of Glasgow in the 1980s, he would put himself forward for any music-related activities growing up. Even though no family members were involved in music in any way, he always felt drawn to it, listening to his mum’s LP records, and becoming fascinated with guitars; some of his earliest memories are imitating Elvis Priestly with his toy guitar (helping him gain the nickname Elvis as a young child).
“I can remember as far back as nursery school, mostly hating being there until the women, I am assuming one of the nursery staff, would play the piano for us; I was mesmerised with this contraption that could make this lovely music; I thought ‘I want to be able to do that so as soon as I could get a hold a music instrument I did”.
Initially, David hesitated to release any music, seeing his songwriting writing simply as a cathartic way to navigate challenging times and document his life.
Then as a teenager, he reluctantly enrolled as the lead singer/guitarist in a band formed with his high school friends. Within the first few weeks of playing together, David expressed that he wasn’t content with covering popular songs, and decided he would introduce some of the songs he was writing at home, and that's where it all started.
Over the years that followed, David performed in a few band lineups.
After these very enjoyable years, David took a break from playing and performing to focus on establishing a music studio business. In his early twenties, he founded the recording and rehearsal studios “Urban Studios” in Glasgow.
This is where David gained experience from the other side of the glass, everything from recording techniques, production, arrangement and mixing. David nurtured the business for over fifteen years. He never performed live or wrote new songs to completion during most of that time other than producing client projects in the studio.
David later decided to sell a large section of his music studio business to pursue writing and performing his own music.
Since he decided to get back to making his own music, David has been lucky enough to travel throughout the UK, Canada, and the United States to write and record with other artists and songwriters.
He undertook a Master’s degree in Songwriting and Performance at the University of the West of Scotland in 2013, where he was awarded the prestigious songwriting award at the annual creative and cultural industries showcase and even went on to win a prize at the 2015 International Songwriters Award for his debut release Wolves (at my door).
Since releasing his debut single "Wolves (at my door)" in 2014 and second single "Green Door and Star Wars" shortly after, David has had the pleasure of working with some fantastic musicians and songwriters, including David Scott of the "Pearlfishers", singer-songwriters Jo Mango, Becci Wallace, Duncan McNaught and Maeve O'Boyle to name just a few. He even learned to sing in Gaelic when writing with award-winning Gaelic singer-songwriter Fiona J Mackenzie.
David is now writing, recording and producing his debut album "Boy No More”, scheduled for release in Autumn 2023.
