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Dave attended SUNY Potsdam from 1973-1975 and studied at the Crane School of Music while playing in bands. He moved to Hawai'i in 1975 and lived in Pahoa on the Big Island while attending UH Hilo. 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 Hawai'i" studio. The group eventually moved to Kailua, Oahu, where they played at "Pinky’s Broiler" in a very successful year-long run.

 

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 Hawai'i in late 1984, someone heard his demos and said, "Dave, let’s go to London and record your album!"  The project was never finished, but shortly after Dave returned to Hawai'i, he opened "Fortunate Sun Studio". He had the studio for eight years before moving to LAX to write jingles with a good friend who had a successful production company there. 

 

Upon returning to the islands in 1995, 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 talented musicians in Hawai'i 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, over 300 projects Dave has recorded in Hawai'i have been nominated for Na Hoku Hanohano Awards, the local equivalent of the Grammy. Over 100 of those nominees have 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 2004, he mixed "Amy and Willie Live", which was nominated for the first Hawaiian Grammy. In 2005, Dave won his fifth Hoku Award for engineering Raiatea Helm's "Sweet and Lovely." He also produced this CD, which was nominated for a Grammy in 2005 as well. Also in 2005, Dave was featured in the June issue of Honolulu Magazine as one of the top music producers in Hawai'i. Dave won his sixth Na Hoku Award for engineering Raiatea Helm's "Hawaiian Blossom" in 2008. This album was also nominated for a Grammy. In 2008, Dave released his first CD entitled "TIME". In 2011, Dave won his seventh Na Hoku Award for producer of the Compilation Album of the Year entitled "Kona". In 2012, Dave received his eighth and ninth Na Hoku awards. One was a producer's award for "Compilation Album of the Year" and the other was a producer's award for "Album of the Year", "Kaunaloa" by Kuana Torres-Kahele, which was also the top selling album in Hawai'i in 2012. In 2012, Dave engineered for Dane Neves on his short film "Poison Apple", which ended up garnering 14 awards. Weldon Kakauoha's album "Pilialoha", produced by Dave, was nominated for a Grammy in 2013. In May of 2013, Dave won his 10th and 11th Na Hoku Awards. These were producer awards for "Anthology Album of the Year" (20 years of the Mana'o Company) and "Album of the Year" (Na Hoa). In 2014, Dave won his 12th Na Hoku Hanohano award for the "Anthology Album of the Year" Eia, by Natalie Ai. Also in 2014, Dave produced Kamaka Kukona's album, "Hanu 'A'ala", which was the only finalist from Hawai'i nominated in the Roots Regional category at the Grammy Awards in 2015. In 2015, Dave co-produced "La La La La" along with Natalie Ai Kamauu and Iolani Kamauu. This album also made it into the final ballot in the Roots Regional category of the 2016 Grammy Awards. Dave won his 13th Na Hoku Hanohano Award in May 2016 for engineering this album. In 2016, Dave completed "E Walea" with Kalani Pe'a and this album went on to win a Grammy Award in the Best Roots Regional category of the 2017 Grammy Awards. Dave won his second Grammy for producing/ engineering Kalani Pea's "No 'A'ne'i" at the 2019 Grammy Awards and Dave won his third Grammy for producing/ engineering Kalani Pea's "Kau Ka Pe'a" at the 2022 Grammy Awards. In 2023, Dave was up for another Grammy in the Best Regional Roots Music Album category for work as a producer/engineer on Natalie Ai's album "Noelani". This was Dave's ninth Grammy nomination.

 

Since 2005, the Female Vocalist of the Year Award has gone to artists Dave has worked with 10 times. Those artists are Natalie Ai Kamauu (6), Napua Makua (2) and Raiatea Helm (2). Dave produced the Top 6 selling albums on Mele.com in 2012, and 11 out of the Top 20.

 

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. In February 2017, Dave was featured in an article in Hana Hou magazine, the magazine of Hawaiian Airlines.

 

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 100 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 and has been a studio musician on many tracks and albums. For over 25 years, he's used computers to compose and assemble music. For 8 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 and is a mentor at Grammy U.