Hello!
My name is David Bryant, aka "Mr Support Friend!"
I hope you find the information, links and resources here at SupportFriends.com to be helpful.
Below is a brief overview about me.
If you have any comments or questions about anything on our web site, or you'd just like to say hello, feel free to contact me.
Stay positive and have a wonderful day!
Peace, Love, Support & Friendship!
David Bryant aka Mr. Support Friend
Well let's see, where should I begin?
Okay how about at the beginning.
I was born in New York City in 1960, so yes technically I'm a New Yorker. However, my family moved to California when I was 3 years old, so I was pretty much raised on the west coast.
I don't have any brothers or sisters, just my parents, who have been married for 46 years.
I come from a mixed background. My father is African American and my mother is Canadian.
So I guess that makes me AfricanAmeriCanadian eh? Right on! LOL
Actually I'm just me, David, a positive person who was raised to do the right thing and treat others with respect. I certainly would not be who I am today without my parents love and support.
My mother told me that even as a child I was always very giving and helpful to others.
I guess it's just my nature.
From ages 3 to 12 I grew up in Sacramento, CA where my grandparents lived. We stayed there until they passed away then moved to Los Angeles.
It was quite interesting growing up in Sacramento in the 60's and 70's, in a more integrated and open society.
Of course due to my background, I had to deal with discrimination growing up. It really taught me alot about people and the world we live in. Fortunately my parents empowered me with a great sense of self and the ability to overcome the obstacles that were put in my path.
As a kid I was really into sports, primarily Pop Warner football and YMCA basketball. Didn't like baseball that much. Too slow to watch and too many curve balls coming at my head. LOL
I was also an excellent bowler and could have been a member of the JAT (Junior Amateur Tour), but chose not to go that direction.
Instead I focused on school and really loved music.
As for my parents, my mother is an accounting professional and is the most amazing woman I know. I have so much love and respect for her and admire her strength and positive attitude about life.
She is a giving person and a total optimist! I am blessed to have her as my mother and my father is blessed to have her as his wife.
That brings me to my dad.
He has taught me so much about life and is a major part of the reason I have achieved many of the successes I have in my life.
My father is an entertainer. One of the few "master jazz tap percussionists" left in the world. He has a unique gift of inspiring people of all ages with his talents and his spirit.
At 77 years old he is still active as a performer on stage, in films and on television. I hope I am as active as he is when I reach 77.
He is also a very popular dance professor at a major university here in California.
Although I did not get a chance to see my father perform in his prime, I have met some of the people he worked with like Count Basie and Quincy Jones. Both had great things to say about my dad.
It really does amaze me when I think about the legends my dad knew and worked with including Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughn, Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, the list goes on and on.
As a matter of fact, my godfather was the great jazz pianist Erroll Garner and to this day when I listen to his records I get goosebumps. His most famous composition was the song "Misty", but it was his piano playing that was one of a kind. He was a true original and I feel extremely privileged to be able to say that he was my godfather.
When we moved to Hollywood in the 70's, I attended Bancroft Junior High and Hollywood High School.
That's right Hollywood High School. "Land of the Sheiks" for any of you Fairfax Lions or North Hollywood Huskies out there! (Fairfax and North Hollywood were our rivals in sports... LOL)
The thing I loved about Hollywood High was the cultural and class diversity.
We had over 60 different nationalities in our school, as well as rich kids from the Hollywood Hills and poor kids from low income areas. We all got along great, unlike many of the other schools in our area.
In high school I was a "1st Team All League JV Basketball Player" and focused mostly on sports and hanging out with my friends. I was still kind of shy with the girls and didn't even have a girlfriend until I was 17. I was the "best friend" who girls came crying to when the jerks used to treat them badly.
More on this subject later! LOL
At 16 I got a job working for Safeway Supermarket as a "Courtesy Clerk", just a fancy name for a "Box Boy", and eventually went on to become a "Journeyman Grocery Clerk!" Yes, the retail clerks union Local 770 was very good to me!
In my senior year of high school, I had to take a fine arts class as part of my graduation requirements. The 3 choices were Art, Music & Bachelor Living. Of course I wanted to take Bachelor Living because it was the class all the jocks were in and the girls would hang around outside after class.
But my mom would not let me do it. She said "I've already taught you how to fry an egg, write a check and do your own laundry, so pick something else." LOL
Well being that I could not draw a stick figure if my life depended on it, I chose music, which turned out to be one of the best decisions I made in my life.
At first it was hard and I was failing the class. It was a classical music harmony class and I did not have a clue what was going on. I was mixed in with alot of music students, so I was slightly out of place. However, there was one positive about the situation and that was my music teacher Mr. Grant.
He always made the classes fun and hip and was one of the best teachers I ever had.
He was also a contemporary jazz musician and tv/film composer, who wrote music on the side for his own projects and for popular tv shows such as Starsky & Hutch and the Rockford Files.
Slowly but surely I started catching on in class and eventually ended up taking private lessons on the side from Mr. Grant. It was at this point that I decided to pursue a "music career" as a professional songwriter instead of going to college.
Growing up, I taught myself how to play the piano by ear and took a few piano lessons from my friend David Achon's mom. I had also written a few songs as a child, one of which my father recorded for one of his projects when I was about 13.
But it was not until the summer after high school that I decided to try to make a career out of it. My plan was to give myself 2 years to see if I could make it, and if I couldn't, then I would go to college.
I LOVE MUSIC and being an only child, one of the things I used to do to entertain myself in my room, was listen to records and the radio.
Some of my musical favorites growing up were The Jackson Five, James Taylor, Marvin Gaye, The Beatles, Earth Wind & Fire, Herbie Hancock, Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim's West Side Story Soundtrack and of course my all time favorite STEVIE WONDER!
My favorite song of all time is "You've Got A Friend" written by Carole King and performed by James Taylor, and my all time favorite record producer is Mutt Lange, who co-wrote and produced the classic "Everything I Do" by Bryan Adams.
But it was not until I graduated from high school that I decided to pursue a career in music as a professional songwriter.
I was fortunate enough to achieve success as a songwriter over the years.
Some of my favorite songs that I've co-written include:
Over my career I have also had the privilege of working with and/or having my songs produced, co-written and performed by the following music industry talents:
In my early teens my family had formed an independent music publishing company, primarily for my parents songs and the few that I had written.
I knew it would be tough for me to make it in the music business, but I always remembered what my father told me when I decided to go for it.
He said "If you want to be a professional songwriter, you need to think and act like a professional songwriter. From this day on you are now competing with the best songwriters in the world and there are not many slots available. So you need to take it seriously."
Boy was he right and I always used what he said as motivation when I was writing and creating my songs. I knew I was competing with the best in the world, so I used to visualize successful artists singing my songs during the writing process.
I would also do the "Flip-Flop" test with my songs after I completed them.
The "Flip-Flop Test" was simply this. I would listen to a few songs on an album, or a radio station, then I would flip the switch on my stereo system and play one of my songs like it was on that album or radio station.
If I felt my song was good enough to fit on the album, or be played on the radio, I knew I was at least in the ball park. If I didn't, I would rework the song until it felt right to me.
I always base my decisions on my feelings and instincts. Either it feels right or it doesn't.
No matter how talented you are, there is another side to being successful in the music business and that is getting your foot in the door with the right people and being prepared when it happens.
In my case, I feel there were 4 keys to my success as a professional songwriter:
When I attended Hollywood High School one of my classmates was Kate McKay, sister of lengendary rhythm guitar player Al McKay of Earth, Wind & Fire.
Another one of my classmates was Mark Stevens, brother of R&B legend Chaka Khan.
Mark and I became friends and ended up hanging out alot after we graduated high school. He was a talented bass player and singer, and like his sisters Chaka & Taka was involved in the music industry.
One day Mark got a call for an audition. Al McKay had just left Earth, Wind & Fire and was holding auditions for a new band he was putting together.
By fate, Mark needed a ride to the audition and asked me if I could give him a ride. This would turn out to be my first big break into the music industry.
When we got to the audition, Al greeted us and Mark introduced me to him.
Al said "Wait a minute, David Bryant. Your name sounds familiar to me."
I said "Well I go to Hollywood High and I am friends with your sister Kate."
Al said, "That's it, my sister told me about you."
I had no idea Kate had mentioned me to Al, but I was sure happy she did.
He said "You're the songwriter right?"
I said "Yes that would be me and I am also a huge Earth, Wind & Fire fan and it's hard to believe I am standing here right now talking to you."
Then Al told me that he wanted to hear a tape of my songs and if he liked them, maybe we could write some songs together along with some new writers he had signed to his music publishing company.
You have to understand, I used to spend hours alone in my room as a kid listening to Earth, Wind & Fire records and now here I was face to face with one of my musical heroes and he was interested in possibly working with me.
So was I excited? That would be an understatement!
Well to make a long story short, Al ended up liking my stuff and asked me if I wanted to write some songs with him and another up and coming songwriter at the time Tony Haynes.
The collaboration led to my 1st song that was recorded by a major artist. The song was called "Send A Little Love", the group that recorded it was "The Spinners", and it was produced by Mtume & Lucas, whose credits included the hit song "The Closer I Get To You."
Al, Tony and I ended up writing more songs together and worked on several projects together including A Taste of Honey, Finis Henderson and others.
I learned alot from Al McKay and I am thankful that he recognized my talent and gave me my 1st break in the music industry.
Another key contact I made through Mark Stevens was the lengendary music producer and arranger Arif Mardin.
Arif has worked with and produced some of the biggest and best artists in the music industry including:
Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, Average White Band, The Bee Gees, Phil Collins, George Benson, Bette Midler (Arif produced "Wind Beneath My Wings") and most recently Norah Jones, which won him the 2003 Grammy Award for Producer of the Year.
Not to take anything away from all the talented and successful people I met and worked with in the music industry over the years, but I would have to say that I have the most respect and admiration for Arif.
In a world of sharks and greedy people who are out for themselves, and will step on you to get where they need to go, Arif always treated me with respect, asked me for my opinions and never once asked me for any percentage of my song royalties in order for him to record one of my songs on a project he was working on.
His talent is enormous and his character is impecable!
Arif ended up recording a song I wrote the music for called "Your Place Or Mine" with Melissa Manchester who he was producing at the time.
Melissa & Allee Willis wrote the lyrics and it ended up being the main title theme for a film called "A Little Sex" starring Tim Matheson & Kate Capshaw.
The time I spent around Arif watching him work was incredible. He used to invite Mark and I down to recording sessions and over to his hotel room when he was in town to watch him work and hang out.
2 events that I feel fortunate to have experienced in person with Arif, were watching him work in the studio with keyboard player and arranger Greg Phillinganes on Chaka Khan's version of "We Can Work It Out", and watching Arif figure out how to modulate his arrangement of Chaka's version of "A Night In Tunsia" so he could fit a sample of Charlie Parker's solo break into the track.
These were magical moments to me that I will never forget.
Arif also gave me 3 valuable words of wisdom that I try to pass on to anyone interested in pursuing a music career.
1. Be prepared by having your craft and talent in order
2. Stay away from the negative temptations such as drugs, alcohol, partying, women, etc...
3. And 3 and most importantly, if you can not accept disappointment and rejection, you need to find another career, because it's going to happen no matter what level of success you achieve!
He said if I could learn to master these 3 things, then I had a chance to be successful.
One day while working my day job at Safeway Supermarket in Hollywood, a girl came through my checkstand who would end up becoming a good friend and another important musical contact for me.
I noticed she was wearing some musical note earrings which prompted me to ask her if she was a singer.
She said "No I am a songwriter." I said "Cool, so am I."
The girl that came through my line that day was Diane Warren, who many consider to be the most prolific songwriter of this generation.
At the time we met she was just starting out and had a song on the radio she co-wrote for Laura Branigan called "Solitaire."
Since then Diane has gone on to write hundreds of songs for artists of all genres including such classics as "Un-Break My Heart", "How Do I Live", "Because You Loved Me", "Don't Want To Miss A Thing" and "Rhythm Of The Night", which I actually helped her record the demo of.
Diane and I chatted a bit while I was ringing up her order and ended up exchanging phone numbers.
Eventually we ended up writing a few songs together, 4 of which were recorded by Patti Austin, Jeffrey Osborne, Deniece Williams and Laura Hunter.
What I like about Diane the most is that even though she has become very rich and very successful, she is still basically the same person today that she was when I met her.
She loves music and she loves writing songs. It is her passion and she is one of the best to ever do it.
I feel privileged to have collaborated with her, and that she respected my opinion and felt comfortable enough to share some of her songs with me, and ask me for my honest opinion while she was in the process of writing them.
There was nothing better than having her call me and say "You got a minute? I want to play you something. Tell me what you think of this chorus?"
Then she would proceed to sing me a chorus of a new song she was working on that would eventually go on to be a #1 record worldwide.
Diane's song ideas are fantastic and she really knows how to express feelings that people have through her lyrics.
2 of my personal favorites of hers are "Love Will Lead You Back" by Taylor Dayne and "When I See You Smile" by Bad English.
Thanks to my relationship with Diane, I ended up meeting many important music industry contacts including music publisher Tom Sturges, who introduced me to record executive Jamie Cohen, who ended up introducing me to many music industry contacts during his years as an A&R executive at EMI, Arista & Columbia Records.
One person Jamie introduced me to was legendary record executive Clive Davis, which resulted in Whitney Houston recording a song I co-wrote with Jan Buckingham called "Moment Of Truth."
Although "Moment Of Truth" was originally supposed to be recorded as a duet, it ended up being the B-Side to the smash single "I Wanna Dance With Somebody", and later on was included on a 5 song extended CD for the "Waiting To Exhale" project.
I'll never forget the day I had a meeting with Clive at his bungalo at the Beverly Hills Hotel to play him a new song I had written with one of Tom Sturges' writers at the time Dan Navarro.
Dan co-wrote the song "We Belong" for Pat Benatar and we had written a new song called "Remember Your Heart" that Tom and I wanted to play for Clive.
We played him the song and he absolutely loved it!
He said he wanted to have Dionne Warwick record it for her new album and have Alby Galuten produce it. Alby produced many hits over the years for the Bee Gees.
Then Clive pulled the ultimate rabbit out of his hat and told us he wanted to play us the song that would be the lead single from the album.
He then proceeded to play us "That's What Friends Are For."
Well after hearing Dionne, Stevie, Elton & Gladys sing the song, and with the goosebumps still tingling all over my body, I said of course you can have the song for Dionne.
I must tell you I feel blessed to have my song on her "Friends" album along side my all time favorite musical artist Stevie Wonder and one of my songwriting heroes Burt Bacharach who co-wrote and produced "That's What Friends Are For."
If there is one thing that I learned from Clive Davis, it's how to listen to a song and not be influenced by it's demo production. A good song can be reproduced in many ways to fit the style and needs of an artist. This I believe is one of Clive's greatest gifts, and part of the reason why he has been so successful, for such a long period of time in the music business.
Several years ago my music career was interrupted due to an illness which forced me to stop writing and producing.
Fortunately, I had done very well with my songwriting and even while I was sick and unable to work, I was able to earn 4, 5 and 6 figure royalty checks for songs I had written months and years earlier. As a matter of fact, I still receive royalty checks to this day for songs I wrote when I was 19 years old.
This is one of the reasons I always tell up and coming music artists to focus on songwriting and establishing your own music publishing company because it's an area of the music business that has long term income potential.
I will always write songs because I love music, but writing music is not my full time career anymore.
Now I scout and evaluate talent, as well as advise, encourage, develop, connect and support established and independent music artists, producers, songwriters and business professionals.
Having worked with some of the best artists in the world I feel that I have already achieved many of my musical dreams and goals. So if I can help someone else achieve their musical dreams and goals, or guide them to the right people and/or resources, I'm all for it!
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, or to talk about music, or anything else of interest on the SupportFriends.com web site.
