David Best
| Established. Jan 01, 1974
Music
Press
It's rare to find someone who can sing a traditional hymn, then move into a black gospel song and finish with a country ballad. David Best can . . . and he does it well.
-- Michael R. Estep, President - Pacific Grove Group
Listening to David, you can tell he really enjoys singing.
- Ron Highley
past member, Kansas City Lyric Opera - LIFE Ministries
I've always been moved by the music of David Best. His voice is strong, his talents real and God-given. But most of all, David is a man after God's own heart and that always shows up in his music.
-Cindy Dupree
Dupree Productions
Director of Communications for
Tennessee Dept of Tourist Development
past board member of Gospel Music Association - Dupree Productions
It has been my privilege to hear David Best in music ministry on many occasions. He has a beautiful bariton voice and sings from the heart as well. David has a wide variety of repertoire including many old favorites and standards, but also performs wonderful compositions of his own. I am pleased to recommend him and his ministry to any and all.
- Jonathan Welch, Principal Artist
Metropolitan Opera of New York - Jonathan Welch
I believe so very much in the musical talent that God has given David Best. But what really sets him apart is his unique ability to express God's compassionate love for all creation. I have seen David use his talent in urban settings as well as in the villages of South Asia, always with the same result: I sense and feel the God of compassion.
-Steve Weber, former Director
Harvest Partners - Steve Weber
Discography
"Classic Gospel"
(Highley Records)
"Hard Country, Holy Gospel" (EP)
as a lead singer member of "Mountain Glory" (http://MountainGlory.com)
"Happy is the Man Who Knows the Lord" (Highley Records)
"One More Ride" (Highley Records)
"By Grace and Together" with the Point Loma Nazarene Jazz Band (Highley Records)
Photos
Bio
Some of David Best's earliest memories are of riding in a car on the front seat between his grandmother, who had been a popular singer on mid-west radio and his grandfather, a songwriter/gospel singer/preacher known in the 1930's as "The Flying Parson of the Air." Traveling down the highways theyd sing gospel songs like "The Lily of the Valley." On its chorus, after they sang "Hallelujah, David would always plead, "Sing it again, Grandpa!" David was moved and touched deeply by music.
Before he even had conscious memory, Davids six-week old body was at St. Paul Baptist Church in Los Angeles, resting in his parents arms, but soaking up the traditional black gospel music during the live Sunday night radio broadcasts. David believes The Echoes of Eden choir got into my soul--as much as is probably possible for a white boy!"
He remembers his other early musical influences:
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I grew up listening to the 78 records of the Colored Cleveland Quintet, the Haven of Rest Quartet, my parents and grandparents custom records, and later the Keller-York Quartet.
Some of my earliest memories are of sitting in front of my little record player. The inside lid was decorated with the Roy Rogers & Trigger decal I had picked out myself from the Kress's Dime Store on Pasadena's Colorado Boulevard. I loved to play my 45's of Roy and Dale, Tex Ritter -- and pretend I was a DJ or emcee announcing their music.
One of our family's favorite TV programs was "Town Hall Party," a locally produced Country-Western show televised from an auditorium in Compton, California. We'd tune in faithfully each Saturday night to see well-known LA acts and local talent--some of whom went on to become nationally recognized artists.
These early years, my musical influence was primarily black gospel, a white gospel of the 1920s-40s (not so much Southern Gospel, as the music of Homer Rodeheaver, Austin Miles, etc.) My other music influences included Sons of the Pioneers, other cowboy singers, some folk, and a LA mix of Western swing, country, blues that came through those "Town Hall Party" shows.
My parents rarely listened to music on AM radio, so I didn't hear much current pop or rock music until I was a young teen. My first LP was "Meet the Beatles" I purchased as a 13 year old, the year it was released in the US.
In addition to the Beatles, Beach Boys, and Stones, my major musical influences as a teen were Bob Dylan, the Byrds, Rick Nelson, The Everly Brothers, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Eddy Arnold, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Peter, Paul & Mary, Woody Guthrie, Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard.
Later, during my early twenties, I began listening to Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, and Emmylou Harris.
I love "roots" music. Truthfully, I love and listen to all kinds of music including jazz and classical. (But when it comes to playing and singing, I do Haggard better than Haydn!) My vocal sound tends to reflect these influences of LA folk/rock, black gospel, white gospel ballad, Bakersfield country, Memphis rockabilly, and Appalachian mountain.
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David Best loves music. David loves to sing. David is still moved by music just as he was as a young child. Let David Best sing you a song. Youll be moved by his music, too.
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