Dave Tucciarone
Producer, Engineer, Composer, Musician

Dave grew up in Massapequa Park, New York- a medium-sized town on the South Shore of Long Island. There was a disproportionate amount of very talented musicians in the area and the musical bar was always high. The music bug bit Dave hard at age 13, and he started playing bass in a band. Soon, he was playing guitar and organ, and he knew that he could never get enough. Dave's choir teacher in high school was a major musical influence in his life. In his senior year, Mr. Holdridge asked him to write and arrange a song for the choir, which was performed at his school and others. Mr. Holdridge also encouraged Dave to audition for the New York State All State Choir, which he did and ended up performing in Rochester, New York in a fantastic concert with 300 other music nuts from all around New York State. During high school, he began recording music with some friends and instantly knew that was the most fun of all.

Dave moved to Hawaii in 1975 and lived in Pahoa on the Big Island while attending UH Hilo. He was overwhelmed by the incredible beauty of Hawaii, the Big Island in particular, and knew that he was someplace very special. The group he was playing in (Cooper’s Still) submitted a tape to the first "Homegrown Album" committee, and they captured a slot with the song "Big Island", written by Dave's friend, Steve Kramer. The recording they submitted was made after winning the Hilo County Fair Battle of the Bands. The first prize took them to Oahu to record a single with the legendary Herb Ono at "Sounds of Hawaii" studio- what an experience! The group eventually moved to Kailua, Oahu, where they played at "Pinky’s Broiler" in a very successful year-long run.

Alas, in search of fame and fortune, Dave moved back to NY in 1978 and began working in computer departments for major corporations in NYC while getting a band together . He continued to write and record music, and after moving back to Hawaii in late 1984, someone heard his demos and said, "Dave, let’s go to London and record your album!" I think you know his response. Unfortunately, two weeks into the project, the investor ran out of funds, and Dave returned to Oahu without a finished project. However, right around that time, his father’s business was taking off, so he loaned him enough money to open a recording studio, which he appropriately named "Fortunate Sun Studio". He had the studio for eight years before moving to LAX to write national TV commercials with a good friend who had a successful production company there. However, LAX is not for everybody, and he returned to Honolulu one year later.

Upon returning to the islands, Dave began working independently as a producer/engineer and continues to do so now. Dave acknowledges that the greatest gift he's received from recording with so many great musicians in Hawaii is their friendship and aloha. Whether it was "Sweet Lady Of Waihole" with Abe Keala and Three Scoops of Aloha, or "Live A Little" with the Hawaiian Style Band, or "Spread a Little Aloha" with the Mana’o Company, the camaraderie and laughs were priceless, and, they happened to make some pretty good music along the way, too!

Since 1987, 170 projects Dave has recorded in Hawaii have been nominated for Na Hoku Hanohano Awards, the local equivalent of the Grammy. 43 of those nominees won Hoku Awards. His song composition "All I Want Is You", recorded by Robi Kahakalau, was nominated for "Song of the Year" in 2001. In 2002, he received his third and fourth Hoku Awards, winning "Producer of the Year" and "Engineer of the Year" for work on The Mana’o Company’s "Spread a Little Aloha" album. The previous two were for Henry Kapono’s "Song For Someone" and the Makaha Son’s "Kui’kawa." In 2005, Dave won his fifth Hoku Award for engineering Raiatea Helm's "Sweet and Lovely." He also produced this CD, and it was nominated for a Grammy in 2005 as well. In 2004, Dave mixed "Amy and Willie Live", which was nominated with four other projects for the first Hawaiian Grammy. In 2005, Dave was featured in the June issue of Honolulu Magazine as one of the top music producers in Hawaii.

Dave has composed, arranged, performed, and produced local and national commercials for companies such as Reebok, Budweiser, Chevrolet, Cadillac, Aloha Airlines, Victoria Ward Centers, King Windward Nissan, and Meadow Gold Dairies. In 2001 and 2002, he served as the musical director and talent coordinator for the MVP All Stars at KCCN Radio’s Birthday Bash at the Waikiki Shell.

As mentioned earlier, Dave recorded a solo album in London, but what wasn't mentioned was that his engineer was the renowned Beatles engineer Phil McDonald (he was the main engineer for "Sgt Pepper," among others). Dave has composed over 75 vocal and instrumental songs to date. He has been a soloist in choirs, sang lead and background vocals with ensembles, and has performed as a singer and musician with bands of many styles including rock, progressive, acoustic, and jazz fusion.

For over 20 years, he's used computers to compose and assemble music. For almost 10 years, he owned and operated Fortunate Sun Recording Studio, where he also served as Chief Engineer.

Dave has studied voice, piano, guitar, flute, violin, and organ. He also has extensive training in music, including music theory, composition, form and analysis, orchestration, and ear training.

In 1999, he traveled to Oxford, England for a week long seminar on the maintenance/repair of Solid State Logic (SSL) 4000 series consoles.

Over the years Dave has become proficient on several musical instruments including the acoustic, electric and bass guitars, piano, synthesizer and electronic drum programming. He also has extensive experience teaching audio engineering , guitar and organ.
Crater Festival '77

(Click to enlarge)
Haleiwa Theater '77
State-of-the-Art '85.
Abbey Road Studios '85.
Phil McDonald '85
Solid State Logic Oxford, Eng. '99.
2002 Hoku Awards w/Mana'o Co.
back to top