Our first-time intro to any music artist begins with our Artist Profile, where we learn about them and their music, directly from them.
Name: David Blair
CMW Show(s): Saturday, May 10th @ 11pm – C’est What
Hometown: Vancouver, BC
Music Genre: Acoustic Pop
Year it all began: 2006
A quick introduction: Born and raised in Vancouver, currently living in Berlin and touring Europe – the dream of sharing my original music for a living has become a reality. Back in 2006 I was extremely stage frightened to the point of forgetting lyrics and running off stage without finishing the song. I now tour for a living and have 5 albums of music that I share. My goal is to touch, move and inspire people with my songs and I hope to do that with as many people as possible. People say my sound reminds them of Jason Mraz meeting Maroon 5 and having a one night stand with Justin Timberlake! I’ve been in Berlin since November and recently I signed a deal with a small label in Germany and my first single here has reached the top 100 on Radio Charts and top 5 for digital downloads on Amazon.de. I’m looking forward to finding a partner for Canada and the States so I can bring my music back home! 🙂
What got you into music? I played piano growing up but I hated music because of it – one of my good friends asked me to be in his band and we started writing songs together. I then changed to bass guitar and writing mainly on guitar -and after the band broke up I continued on my own. It wasn’t until 2006 that I committed to leaving my day job for music though.
What are your sources of inspiration? Vulnerability, complicated situations where we aren’t honest with ourselves and show humanity, all the faces of failed crushes and the mystery of love itself.
Dream gig? Stadium touring like U2 or Nickelback.
Your thoughts on Canadian Music Week? It was 10 years ago that I got encouraging words from Daniel Lanois speaking and it was truly the start of my career. I would say it has been one of the most important parts of my musical life.
Interesting points others don’t know about you? My dad is Jamaican and my mom is Ukrainian. I love sports and was a good athlete growing up and still am. I did my first triathlon 2 years ago and I’m doing my first marathon in September in Germany. I love hugging. I’m known as a hug thug! I sold my house and all my possessions to move to Germany and go for it all in November with only 10 shows booked. Faith that things would work out if I just inspired and touched peoples lives has proven to be the most rewarding experience of my life. I got the record deal, radio play, management help, booking help and have grown my career for the first time in my life to a point where I’m making a living. I never dreamed of being on stage as I was scared as hell most of my life but I now love it.
