| David Campbell | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | David Richard Campbell |
| Born | February 7, 1948 Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Genres | Rock, pop, country, alternative, indie rock, hip hop, r&b, blues, jazz, punk, rock en español, metal, classical |
| Occupations | Arranger, composer, conductor |
| Instruments | Viola, violin, piano |
| Years active | 1971–present |
| Website | http://www.davidmusic.com |
David Richard Campbell (born February 7, 1948) is a Canadian-American arranger, composer and conductor. He has worked on over 450 gold and platinum albums including Death Magnetic (Metallica), Minutes to Midnight (Linkin Park), KISS Symphony: Alive IV (KISS) Spirit (Leona Lewis), These Days (Bon Jovi), Fallen (Evanescence), and various albums by his son Beck.[1]
David Campbell was born February 7, 1948 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He moved to Seattle at a young age and took up the violin at age 9. At 12 he began venturing into orchestration, studying the works of Bartók, Schoenberg and Stravinsky.
In the late '60s, after studying at Manhattan School of Music, Campbell moved from New York to Los Angeles and began studying pop music. He studied the music of The Beatles, Leonard Cohen and The Rolling Stones, and he played bluegrass music for crowds in line for movies in Westwood Village.[2]
At the age of 23, Campbell played on his first major album, Tapestry, by Carole King. This led to his first arranger role, for King's Rhymes and Reasons album. Campbell also played viola on recording sessions such as Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" and Bill Withers' "Lean on Me". Since then he has gone on to arrange songs for such artists as Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Metallica, Paul McCartney, Green Day, Avril Lavigne, Radiohead, Leona Lewis, Juanes, Dixie Chicks, Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, Enrique Iglesias, Neil Diamond, and Sheryl Crow.[1][2] He also arranged strings for Scottish rock trio Biffy Clyro on their 2009 album Only Revolutions.
In addition to his pop music library, Campbell has also worked on many films, including Mind Games (1989), Dead Man Walking (1995), Brokeback Mountain (2005), North Country (2005), Dreamgirls (2007), and many others.[3] Most recently he worked with Nigel Godrich on the score for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.[4]
In recent years, he has conducted at the Hollywood Bowl for Faith Hill, Death Cab for Cutie, Ray LaMontagne, Beck, Sheryl Crow and Willie Nelson.[5][6] In February 2009 Campbell arranged Radiohead's "15 Step" for the band's collaboration with the USC Marching Band at the 2009 Grammy Awards.[7]
Campbell will handle string arrangements for Evanescence's third studio album, "Evanescence".[8] He has also worked on Evanescence's multi-platinum albums Fallen and The Open Door.
His son is the American musician Beck Hansen[1].
He created song arrangements, dance arrangements, underscoring and orchestrations for the upcoming Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, with music and lyrics by Bono and The Edge, and book by Julie Taymor and Glen Berger. The musical is being directed by Julie Taymor and opens December 21, 2010.[9]