Biography:
Growing up in Vancouver, David was first was exposed to the world of professional music at the age of twelve. As a teenager, he was part of many bands and played locally regularly, moving from one playing situation to another, refining his guitar skills and performance. At the expense of his academic courses at the University of British Columbia's School of Music (Canada), he would often spend hours in the music library listening to a wide variety of guitar music from delta blues, to Django and to classical. During that period he was also introduced to the recording studio namely, Vancouver Recording (with legendary Vancouver engineer/producer Robin Spurgin), one of the very few professional studios in town at the time, which he frequented for days at a time, observing sessions and doing everything and anything he could to gain studio experience.
By the age of 18, he was already a professional musician performing 5 to 6 nights a week in some of Vancouver's notorious 'East -end' cabarets, and appeared regularly as a feature vocalist on CBC TV's 'Let's Go' and 'Where it's At' series. He also performed as a solo acoustic artist at coffeehouses and toured B.C. as opening act for 'The Poppy Family'. Over the next few years he released his first solo album, "Take My Hand", and helped form the successful Vancouver group Sunshyne, which included the late Bruce Fairbairn (producer for Aerosmith etc), Jim Vallance (songwriter with Bryan Adams and Ozzy Osborne) and jazz flautist/saxophonist Tom Keenlyside. Sinclair left Sunshyne after a few years to tour with a succession of major Canadian artists. Meanwhile, Sunshyne was transformed into Prism, and David played some guitar on their first 3 albums.
As well as becoming a top-call studio player, doing a myriad of jingles, TV shows, films and records, he started working with arranger/composer/studio musician Bob Buckley, with whom he would form the bands Straight Lines and Body Electric. Straight Lines climbed the radio charts with Roanne, Heads are gonna roll, Letting Go (Juno nominee-best songwriters, top 10 across Canada, Billboard pick), to name a few, selling over 50,000 copies Nationwide. Body Electric's "Do You Think They Can Tell" was given an "Outstanding Airplay" award in 1984. As well as their own shows, these bands toured with top National and International artists including Corey Hart, Joan Armatrading, Loverboy, and Parachute Club.
From 1992 to 1995, David was asked to tour with k.d. lang as well as join Sarah McLachlan's ensemble from 1993 to 2003, touring extensively in North America, Europe, and Japan. During that period he appeared on television shows including Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, Arsenio Hall, Saturday Night Live, Larry Sanders, Good Morning America, Rosie O'Donnell, MTV Unplugged, VH1 Storytellers, The Grammy Awards Show, and Juno Awards.
As a studio guitarist, he has worked with many Canadian artists including Sarah McLachlan, Michael Bublé, Daniel Powter, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Amy Sky, Rita MacNeil, Paul Janz, Valdy, Susan Jacks, Terry Jacks, Barry Greenfield, Prism, Irish Rovers, Matthew Lien, Gary Fjellgaard and many more. He has played on and composed music for many TV series and films, appeared on numerous occasions with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and a variety of musical theatre productions. Over the past few years, David has produced CDs for a number of artists, including Shutterfly, his own family band, in which he performs with his son Zak and daughter Taryn.
David Sinclair has been named to the B.C. Entertainment Hall of Fame in recognition of a 50-year career that has included playing with many of the country's biggest names
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