David Gerald, the son of Mississippi born and raised parents, grew up to the sounds of the blues and R&B music in his hometown, Detroit. He’s the 11th of 11 children, 6 of whom were born and partly raised in Mississippi. “Because segregation and racial discrimination were so bad in Mississippi, my dad moved the family north to Detroit when he was 33, so we'd have a better chance at the American dream. He reminisces about that ‘til this day,” says Gerald.
Gerald started playing guitar at the age of 16 influenced by Prince and 80’s rock guitarists. He rediscovered the blues and listened to the music of Albert King, ZZ Hill, B.B. King, and Stevie Ray Vaughan to name just a few.
“I was lucky enough to have a neighbor who was a guitarist and gave me scrap guitars. I would piece them together and build 'Frankenstein' guitars,” says Gerald. “They were horrible to play and sounded bad, but I had to play music. It was and is my destiny. I finally scraped up enough money to buy an old amp and I was happy.”
Gerald performed in many local blues, R&B and rock bands cutting his guitar and vocal chops live and in person. Finding it hard to keep a band together, Gerald learned to play guitar, bass, keys and drums. Using two antiquated cassette recorders he would overdub each part individually until the song was completed. “The end result sounded horrible, and the songs would not end up in the same key they started in. But it got my songs recorded,” says Gerald. This was the beginning of his songwriting, most of which were pop and rock tunes during the 80’s. Around the age of 24, he began experimenting with computers to write and compose music, which he has done to this day.
Gerald, now in his 40’s, has his own band playing locally and regionally in Michigan. Earlier this year he opened the 'Triple Threat Of Blues' show for Bobby Rush and Mel Waiters in Jackson, Michigan performing at the State Theatre. Gerald has performed several times at the two major festivals in Michigan; Detroit Riverdays Festival, (International Freedomworks Festival) and Chrysler Art, Beats and Eats Festival. Recently David was listed as 1 on the ReverbNation blues charts for Michigan blues artists.
David Gerald’s debut album, Hell And Back, contains five studio originals and five live arrangements of well known tunes including Thrill is Gone, Red House and Cold Shot.
DISCOGRAPHY:
David Gerald's debut CD "Hell & Back" is complete and will be released November 10, 2009. The tracks can be heard here. The CD can be purchased and the mp3's downloaded on David's website. www.davidgerald.com
Thanks, been a blues fan for over 40 years. I bookmarked your page, and am actually sending out links to some friends of mine now. Again I'm floored. Thrill is Gone is one of my all-time favorite blues tunes EVER. In 1970 I saw BB do it on the Tonight Show. That performance is the one that set me on my journey through the blues. It has so much sentiment to me that I view any remakes as suspect. You do a fantastic job, I'm listening to it now. I'm floored. Yeah I'm a fan. if you ever get near Texas, let us know.
Thanks for the add. I just found out about you ( I love the internet.) I'm floored. Love the way you rocked out "Katy", one of my favorites by Albert. Great Job. You've taken Albert's Licks, and added such a unique tone and phrasing, that it becomes your own. Again, I'm floored. Will DEFINITELY be getting the CD when it comes out.
I'M NOT BIG BLUES FAN! BUT YOU GUYS HAVE GREAT MUSIC! & I PLAY A LITTLE BIT OF BLUES ON MY GUITAR! & I LIKE SOME OF LOUIS ARMSTRONG'S (SCHACHMO) SONGS!
Crops Blues Mag. is a new french fanzine about Blues music. 1st Number is always available. Soon issue 2 If you want to appear in next number for publicity, dates, ..... don't forget your presskit ( pictures, sound, bio and more ... ) Like Whiteboy Slim, Bjorn Berg, bob Corritore, ... write us
crops blues mag 2 rue des rosiers 34480 Pouzolles France
