Born in 1962, and adopted by his father (a Baptist Minister) and his mother (the Superintendent of Corrections for the State of New Mexico), David’s boundaries were well defined. David’s early years were spent primarily in church with his parents. He was being groomed to follow in his father’s footsteps and there would be little time for much else other than music - to which David was a natural at.

At the age of twelve, David tagged along with one of his cousins to participate in a track & field event. It would be the first organized sport the PK (preacher's kid) would join. Within a year, David became one of the top sprinters and jumpers in the country in his first ‘National Championship’ taking 2nd in long jump and 3rd in the 100 yard dash - as well as being the starting leg of his age group in the ‘World Record Setting Relay Team.’ Now with a taste for sports, David joined his Pop Warner football team and for the next 2 years became a local legend - breaking scoring and rushing yardage records, leading his team to an undefeated ‘City Championship.’ By his high school junior year, he’d been offered several scholarships to play football at the University of Nebraska, Colorado, Arizona, Texas Tech, and many others. While David continued to excel receiving ‘All State,’ ‘All City’ and ‘All District’ awards in all three sports, the one thing David was never able to overcome was the death of his father (who died when David was only 13), which led him to an altercation with a coach that deemed him a “problem athlete” and subsequently lost all of his scholarships.

Without male guidance in his life, and humiliated by no longer being a “scholarship athlete,” David joined the army. After being stationed in Hawaii, David was discovered playing intramural football by the head coach of the Hawaii Warriors college football team and was immediately offered a scholarship. Soon after enrolling at the University of Hawaii to play football, his mother dies of a sudden heart attack. David returns home to bury his mother and loses his passion for sports. He decided to take a break from university and reunites with a childhood friend who convinces him to join his new band that had just signed with CBS Records. David accepts and the next chapter in his life begins…

David moves to Los Angeles in 1985 and becomes a highly sought after young music producer. David would go on to work with such artists as Sly and the Family Stone, Lakeside, Beat Club, Mtume - to name a few. After earning his bones as a producer/songwriter, David signs a solo artist deal with Capitol Records. In 1987 David meets his wife Mädchen Amick, and a few years later, while juggling their careers, they start their family. They have a son Sylvester (attended University of California Irvine) and a daughter Mina (Cornell University graduate), whom both, following in their father’s footsteps, got a full ride as top level track and field athletes.

After all the many lives that David has lived, the most fulfilling was his 10 years of mentoring and training young athletes as a High School Track & Field Coach and Football Coach in Connecticut, San Francisco and Beverly Hills - giving them the passion and guidance that he was denied as a young man. After retiring from coaching, David has started a successful personal training business as well as dedicating his time and energy to, he and his family’s, non-profit mental health foundation, Don’t MIND Me, inspired by the struggles that he and his family experienced while searching for support during his son’s mental health break and subsequent bipolar diagnosis.