David Pack

DAVID PACK

Biography

David Pack was born in Huntington Park, California on July 15, 1952. His love of music began at a very young age: picking up a ukulele at age five, playing in various bands by the age of twelve.

During his senior year in high school, he formed the band Ambrosia with Burleigh Drummond, Joe Puerta, and Christopher North. Their first album was released in 1975, and that self-titled album was engineered by Alan Parsons. The following year Alan produced their "Somewhere I've Never Travelled" album. The story of how Alan came to connect with the band was quite interesting and he says, "We had become aware of his prodigious talents through an English Classical engineer, Gordon Parry, who had been at Decca Records for over twenty years. Gordon pointed out the magnificent job Alan had done on "Dark Side of the Moon". We realized that no American engineer at that time could touch Alan, and that he was our man. We basically called Abbey Road Studios and oddly enough, Alan answered the phone. Alan apparently was leaving for dinner, noticed the phone ringing at the reception desk and no one was there, so he picked it up, and took the call!"

Over the years Ambrosia released a string of albums: "Life Beyond L.A." (1978), "One Eighty" (1980), and "Road Island" (1982). The band also made guest appearances on other albums, including on Trefethen's "It's All Mom's Fault", and performing on the 1977 "Coast to Coast" soundtrack. In 1976, they appeared on the "All This And World War II" soundtrack - that album had Beatles tunes covered by an all-star cast and Ambrosia contributed "Magical Mystery Tour". In 1976, the complete Ambrosia band also appeared on the "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" album.

David also made appearances on the Alan Parsons' produced Al Stewart albums "Year of the Cat" and "Time Passages".

It would be quite some time until Pack appeared on another Alan Parsons record, but in 1993 he played a big role on the "Try Anything Once" album. The tracks "The Three of Me" and "I'm Talkin' To You" were both co-written with Andrew Powell. The other song David wrote for TAO was "Oh Life (There Must Be More)" - The story told in the song was inspired by a newspaper article.

Over the years David has worked with a diverse range of artistes: Kenny Loggins and Kansas (rock); Trisha Yearwood and Wynonna (country), and James Newton-Howard (the soundtrack king). As well as Chris Rea, Gary Wright, David Benoit, Vonda Sheppard, and many more.

David has acted as musical director at some impressive gigs, including both of President Bill Clinton's inaugurations. In 1995 David was musical director for a Benefit for Children of Bosnia. The event at the Greek Theatre had appearances by Fleetwood Mac, Yes, Yanni, and one of the early live appearances by Alan Parsons.

Another interesting project involved creating the song "Remember The Magic" which was the theme for Disneyworld's 25th anniversary. The song was used for everything from the worldwide advertising campaign to the daily parade at the Magic Kingdom.

One of David's favourite projects was his album "The Songs of West Side Story" based on the music of Leonard Berstein. It featured an all-star cast including: Aretha Franklin, Phil Collins, Wynonna, Little Richard, and Selena (sadly, it was her last recording).

On the performing front, in the year 2000, Pack joined forces with Howard Hewett and Richard Marx to perform "The Way It Will Be" for Original Cast Recording/Various artists album "Child of the Promise".

What has David Pack been doing lately? David explains, "The past year (2001) was all about launching a new "pop spiritual" media company, Mpowered Ideas. It's an incredible, once in a lifetime opportunity, with works that I believe can impact the world in a significant and powerful way."

Most recently Mpowered Ideas Media, worked with the American Bible Society, a 185 year-old non profit organization in New York to produce a special 9/11 memorial CD single, dedicated to the children of the victims. David Pack has set Psalm 23 to music and to help get the project rolling, David performed the debut of his Psalm 23 in New York on the first anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy. The piece was commissioned by American Bible Society, so it was decided to perform the music in front of their building on 61st and Broadway. To download a sample of the music, or learn more about the project, visit www.americanbible.org

Over the years, David Pack has worked with a diverse range of artists from Alan Parsons to Chet Atkins, and worked on an incredible range of project from Presidential inaugurations to Disney theme park music. Looking to the future, you can be sure you'll hear more from David … you just never know what it might be next!

For more about David Pack, see Issues 23 and 24 of The Avenue.


David Pack

Selected Discography


  Work With Other Artists  
YEAR ARTIST ALBUM  
1975 Ambrosia Ambrosia Guitars, Keyboards, Vocals
1976 Ambrosia Somewhere I've Never Travelled Guitars, Keyboards, Vocals
1976 The Alan Parsons Project Tales of Mystery and Imagination Guitar
1976 Al Stewart Year of the Cat Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
1977 Trefethen It's All Mom's Fault Guitar (Acoustic)
1977 Soundtrack "Coast To Coast" Guitar
1978 Ambrosia Life Beyond L.A. Guitars, Keyboards, Vocals
1978 Al Stewart Time Passages Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
1980 Ambrosia One Eighty Guitars, Keyboards, Vocals
1980 Kerry Livgren Seeds of Change Vocals
1981 Gary Wright Right Place Vocals
1982 Ambrosia Road Island Guitars, Keyboards, Vocals
1982 Kansas Vinyl Confessions Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
1982 Chris Rea Chris Rea Vocals
1983 Kansas Drastic Measures Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
1984 Patti Austin Patti Austin Synthesizer
1985 David Pack Anywhere You Go Guitars, Keyboards, Vocals, Producer
1985 Michael McDonald No Lookin' Back Synthesizer, Guitar, Guitar (Rhythm)
1986 Larry Carlton Discovery Vocals
1987 David Benoit Every Step Of The Way Vocals, Vocals Arrangement
1987 Jennifer Holliday Get Close To My Love Arranger, Keyboards, Producer, Synthesizer Bass
1988 James Ingram Never Felt So Good Vocals
1988 Patti Austin Real Me Synthesizer, Vocals, Vocals (bckgr), Arranger, Producer
1990 David Benoit Inner Motion Arranger, Vocals, Associate Producer, Vocals Arrangement
1990 Michael McDonald Take It To Heart Vocals (bckgr)
1991 Tom Scott Keep This Love Alive Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
1991 Patti Austin Carry On Synthesizer, Guitar, Piano, Vocals, Vocals (bckgr), Arranger, Producer
1991 Manhattan Transfer Offbeat of Avenues Vocal Arrangement
1992 Vonda Sheapard Radical Light Synthesizer, Guitar, Vocals (bckgr), Producer
1993 Alan Parsons Try Anything Once Synthesizer, Guitar, Vocals
1993 Bryan Duncan Mercy Vocals (bckgr)
1994 Kenny Loggins Return To Pooh Corner Synthesizer, Guitar, Arranger, Producer
1994 Bryan Duncan Slow Revival Vocals (bckgr)
1994 David Benoit Shaken Not Stirred Vocals
1995 The John Tesh Project Sax On The Beach Vocals
1997 Michael McDonald Blue Obsession Guitars, Keyboards, Producer
1997 Ambrosia Anthology Guitars, Keyboards, Vocals, Producer
1997 Wynonna Judd Other Side Guitars (Acoustic), Producer, Harmony
1998 Billy Dean Real Man Vocals (bckgr)
1998 Cece Winans His Gift Arranger, Producer
2000 Kenny Loggins More Songs from Pooh Corner Producer
2000 Soundtrack "Child of the Promise" Vocals


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