David Nathan (music writer)
David Nathan (born 15 February 1948) is a British-born biographer, journalist, authority on soul music, and singer. In the 1960s and 1970s, he was the co-founder of the Soul City record label and a contributing editor to Blues & Soul magazine. Living in the US between 1975–2009, he wrote several biographies of musicians as well as hundreds of articles and liner notes, and founded the website www.soulmusic.com. He has also recorded and performed as a jazz and blues singer, both under his own name and as his alter ego Nefer Davis.
Life and career
He was born in London, and at the age of 16 set up the UK's first fan club for singer Nina Simone. In 1966, with Dave Godin and Robert Blackmore, he established Soul City, in Deptford, South London, claimed to be the first record store outside the US specialising in American rhythm and blues and soul music.[1] The shop also started a record label in 1968, to release US R&B singles in the UK.[2]
In 1970, he began working in London for Contempo International, which owned Blues & Soul magazine. He moved to New York City in 1975 as contributing editor for Blues & Soul, leaving the company in 1981 when the magazine's ownership changed. After a period working for Werner Erhard and Associates, he then moved to Los Angeles and worked as a freelance journalist.[1] He wrote Lionel Richie: An Illustrated Biography (1985), as well as contributing to Billboard, USA Today and other magazines including Blues & Soul which he rejoined in the mid-1980s, and writing many CD liner notes. In the 1990s, he also worked as a producer of compilation reissues, and established a media coaching service. He wrote The Soulful Divas, published in 1999, and Break Down and Let it All Out, a biography of Nina Simone co-written with his sister Sylvia Hampton, in 2004.[1] The book generally received mixed to negative reviews.[3][4][5] He founded a website dedicated to soul music, SoulMusic.com, in 2001.[6]
In the 1990s he released his first CD as a singer, Reinvention, in 2003 on his own Nefer Music label. In 2007, he released his second album, Wistful Elegance, with jazz/R&B group Pharaoh's Dream.[1] In 2010, after returning to live in the UK, he began singing as Nefer Davis, a name derived from his interests in ancient Egypt.[7]
He was Secretary and is now an Advisory Board member of the Rhythm & Blues Foundation.[8] He has received awards for his journalism from the International Association of African-American Music.[1]
Bibliography
- Lionel Richie: An Illustrated Biography, 1985
- The Soulful Divas, 1999
- Nina Simone: Break Down & Let It All Out, with Sylvia Hampton, 2004[5]
References
- ^ a b c d e David Nathan profile at Rock's Back Pages. Accessed 20 June 2011
- ^ Soul City Records at Ska2Soul. Accessed 20 June 2011
- ^ Margaret Busby (16 April 2004). "Nina Simone: Break down & let it all hang out by Sylvia Hampton with David Nathan". The Independent. Retrieved 2011-06-16.
This book aims to chart the terrain that led its author from being an awestruck 14-year-old, introduced to Nina Simone by her equally enthralled brother David Nathan (founder of the singer's first UK fan club), to feeling entitled to boast 40 years later of sharing a close friendship with "the high priestess of soul".
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|newspaper=(help) - ^ Andy Whitman (Feb. 1, 2005). "American Music Is and Other Jazz Selections: Sylvia Hampton and David Nathan – 2.5 Stars". Paste Magazine. Retrieved 2011-06-16.
Sylvia Hampton and David Nathan, authors of Nina Simone: Break Down and Let It All Out, founded the Nina Simone fan club in Britain. Unfortunately, their biography reads like the breathless missives they probably sent out to club members.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b Christopher Loudon (December 2004). "Sylvia Hampton with David Nathan -- Nina Simone: Break Down & Let It All Out". JazzTimes. Retrieved 2011-06-16.
... fawning, fan-written biography. ... saccharine disservice to Simone's long, complex and utterly fascinating life we learn that co-author Nathan (who five years ago penned an equally effusive tome entitled The Soulful Divas) formed the very first Nina Simone Appreciation Society in 1965 ... revealing a lot more about themselves and their sadly disproportionate idolization than they do about Simone ... gushy, syrupy prose usually reserved for teenage girls' diaries.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|newspaper=(help) - ^ "Soulmusic.com". Soulmusic.com. 2011-06-16. Retrieved 2011-06-16.
The World Of David Nathan, founder of Soul Music.com
- ^ Nefer Davis at reverbnation.com. Accessed 20 June 2011
- ^ Rhythm & Blues Foundation: Board. Accessed 20 June 2011