Dave was born in south Georgia. His grandmother played piano in silent movie theaters and his mother went to college on a piano scholarship. Dave's father was in the military and was stationed overseas for most of his early years.He had already been literally by the time he was 12 yrs old, Dave returned to his grandparent's in Blackshear, GA in 1966 to go high school. The second day he was there, a cousin of his came by to see him and told him he had a band and needed a bass player. Dave told him he could play guitar but not bass. His cousin told him "anybody can play bass". So he went to band practice with him, played a borrowed bass for the first time, and was asked to join joined his band and that was it. Dave found what he wanted to do the rest of his life! He played all through high school with the same cousins under various names . They released several 45's that were played at many stations in the region. During this period of time he was a member of the Blackshear High School F.F.A. String Band. No one had ever won the state championship string band competition 2 yrs in a row. Dave went to the state competition all 4 yrs in high school and was state champs 3 of those yrs. The String Band went on to win 6 yrs in a row. Add the 1956 State title and they have 7 state titles. This achievement got them into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame located in Macon, Ga. They have a display honoring their achievement.

After high school he played with several regional rock groups and got to open for many national acts coming through the area. In 1973 He moved to Mobile, Al where he lived for 21 yrs. During this period time Dave got to work with a wide range of groups. From hard core rock to stone cold country (don't forget disco, well maybe we should). Some these bands had major record label interest that lead to national exposure . Dave toured the country for about 6 yrs and played with many of the top acts of the day. In 1980 he joined "Sidetracked", a progressive country band who had charted with a tune called " Thank You Waylon & Willie". The song featured Jody Payne from Willie Nelson's band on guitar and background vocals. This led to the band opening for many major country acts. Dave played with Jody on many of his solo recordings and live shows. They are still close friends today. About 1985, Dave came off the road and concentrated on working house gigs so he could be close to his family. Anything within 2 1/2 hours one way was ok. He worked from Miss to Florida, sometimes playing 6 nights a week. Many of the clubs he worked featured national acts on a regular basis as well as the house band. This lead to either opening up for the artist and his band or even serving as a backup band for the artist. He got to make many contacts and good friends that he still has today.

In 1994, having grown tired of being a human juke box, Dave moved to St. Petersburg, Fl to work on a project that never really got off the ground. Playing with several local bands. Then out of the blue he meets a songwriter singer, Bert Fonte who hires him to do a demo with him. Two weeks after we had done the demo and it got label interest, Bert formed a band with Dave on bass. Two weeks after that, Dave was in Nashville recording a CD. There were some problems with the group of guys we brought up from Fl. So the producer replaced everyone but Dave. The CD was cut at Woodland Studio in Nashville and Secret Sound in Franklin. Many good things came out of these sessions and the CD was great. But Due to a medical condition with Bert the project was scrapped. So after most of 95 in Nashville, Dave moved back to Fl. Dave started back working the club scene in the Tampa Bay area. Then in 98 he joined "Blue Steel", a mainstay of the club scene in Fl. Dave traveled up and down the east coast as well as the state of Florida until late 1998 when Blue Steel took a house job in Daytona Beach, Fl. This lead to Dave doing numerous jobs for NASCAR including playing before the 1998 Pepsi 400 at the Daytona International Speedway. Blue Steel also served as the back up band for "Earl Thomas Conley" when he did shows in Florida.

In April 2000 Dave moved to Nashville,TN. He did the usual rounds of jams sessions, writers nights and soon was working pretty steady. Late in the year he was offered a job in Scotland working with " Charlie" a female Scottish blues singer who has been compared to Janis Joplin! So he made plans to go early in 2001. In February he meet Al Lauro of "Big Al and the Heavyweights". Dave subbed for him several weeks and was offered the job. Having committed to go to Europe he couldn't take the job when offered, but things worked out because a permanent replacement had not been found by his return date.So Dave stepped off the plane on a Monday and back into the van on Wednesday morning headed to Florida.He spent almost 5 years with Big Al and the Heavyweights spreading Love and Mardi Gras around the world, with their own music of blues, Cajun, zydeco & rock," Gumbo Rock" is what the fans( who call themselves Gumboheads)call it. They have appeared on the " Emeril Live" show 3 times and they can also call Dan Akroyd a "Gumbohead". He has featured them 5 times on his " House of Blues" radio show. They maintained one of the heaviest touring schedules around. They have taken their music form coast to coast and have made " Gumboheads" everywhere they have gone.Their 5th CD" Nothing but Good Lovin; released 2004" was recorded and produced by Bruce Iglauer of Alligator Records . In Jan 2005 Big Al decided to semi retire from the road so Dave moved on. He has been touring the last yr with several different acts as well as recording with John Prestia , Kenneth Wright. Dave work with some old friends on the road through the spring of 2006. Thats when He was offered a job playing Pat Upton the voice of the Sprial Staircase. You my remember our hit " I love you more today than yesterday" We currently in rehearsals for our Far East tour in Oct and doing a few warm up dates stateside. You can check out my link page and go to Pat's site and check things out. We have a great lineup of players, it would take to much space here to list their achievements so go to Pat's , then meet the band.