On another occasion, Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) sponsored a songwriting contest in Memphis and David sang “All the Way to Love” by John Ward, which caused Ward to win the best song in the Pop category and the best all-around song for all categories combined. David received the only standing ovation for his performance from a panel of 30 judges, who were major music moguls from all over the United States and abroad. Ward would then become a songwriter for Malaco Records and would later found Ecko Records. Since then, David has continued to prove his matchless prowess for interpreting original material from almost every genre of music.
On another occasion, at a Beale Street nightclub in Memphis, the radio station Magic 101 FM sponsored a contest and an all-star panel of record company executives and judges awarded David the second place cash prize for his rendition of Lionel Ritchie’s song “Hello”. The Spice Band backed David up, who themselves were award-winning musicians from across the United States of America. As a result, David sang as if the song was his own and that is what always kept the major labels interested, as they had already been calling on him and keeping up with his progress.
While writing and performing his own songs to test on smaller audiences and major music moguls in the industry, David made a pit stop with Sound Town Records to refine his skills. Sound Town was a local label in Memphis, TN with international appeal, whose production team and recording artists were affiliated with STAX and Malaco Records. While briefly signed to Sound Town, David was exposed to the works of recording artists like J. Blackfoot (formally with The Soul Children), Shirley Brown, Randy Brown, Luther Ingram and many other vocal legends. David was soon applying the vocal styling of these artists to that of his own material and it helped David perfect his own unique and soulful style.
David would also work closely with Sound Town producers and songwriters Homer Banks (If Loving You Is Wrong, I Don’t Want to Do Right — Luther Ingram & Barbara Mandrel, TAXI — J. Blackfoot, Whose Making Love - Johnnie Taylor). Homers highly talented and infamous partner, Charles Brooks, also mentored David. As David began learning the ropes and perfecting his craft, Chuck had decided to introduce David to another record producer, Chips Moman. Moman had worked with Elvis among others and was highly impressed with David, but got too caught up with legal turmoil over the Ringo Star project. Thus, Moman was never able to serve as co-producer of David’s first CD project. With that said and done and Sound Town beginning to fold, David would not seek to lend his voice to any major album project ever again, but he did continue to write and sing songs for small audiences. David returned to his gospel music roots.
In fact, Art Gilliam, owner of the Memphis Radio Station 1340 WLOK, invited David and a band of his choice to sing a full set for the annual Stone Soul Picnic celebration. As a result, David has performed on the same stage with Leon Patillo (formerly lead singer for Santana) and Shirley Caesar, among others. David also joined gospel groups like Marvin Grant and Friends, who supported a short tour with the Clark Sister’s and Commissioned.
Grant and Friends received enthusiastic reviews on their short tours. One of the group’s songs that stood out the most was “Choice to Make”. In fact, this same song was later re-recorded on the Daniel Winnans album and he received a Grammy Award for Best Gospel Album of the Year. Grant and Friends remained faithful to their objectives, and they put together a group of the most respected professionals in the music industry like pianist John Scott and soprano, Wendy Moten, who later sang, “Come On In Out Of The Rain”, a #5 smash hit on Billboards Adult Contemporary chart, and like baritone Michael Adrian Davis, an infamous gospel music DJ in the Memphis Metropolitan area.
David also teamed up with his classmate, Victor Brooks Jr., son of a well-known Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) minister, who founded Youthville USA in Memphis. Victor was singing with the likes of Andre Crouch and wrote songs for Brian McKnight, among others. Victor introduced David to the SDA faith shortly after high school. David would then support the SDA music ministry by performing live at many church-related concerts. David also signed a management contract with George Edwards, a spiritual mentor and head deacon for New Covenant SDA Church and who was also affiliated with Three Angles Records and the 3ABN TV network. Under George’s direction, David supported the gospel group, A Special Blend, in a concert and he received enthusiastic reviews for both his original and cover material. Of course, some members of A Special Blend later became Members of the 18-Grammy-Award nominated group Take 6, the most nominated Gospel, Jazz, Pop or R&B artists in Grammy history. Thus, David has had more than his fair share of rubbing elbows with the rich and famous.
Stay tuned into whatever David is working on because you never know when he is going to release a break out project worthy of mention.
David has never been the type of person that does not have something going on in the background. As he has many other talents in addition to his singing voice and songwriting abilities. In fact, David has completed a dual B.A. degree from the University of Memphis in the fields of anthropology and political science. He has also earned a Master’s of Public Administration from Walden University. His pursuit of higher education allows him to expand far beyond the music business whereby David specializes in various other interests, such as nonprofit management and leadership throughout the Mid-South Region and beyond.
To illustrate, David wants to leverage combined experiences to become an employee or consultant for a growing organization whereby the organization can benefit from his current academic prowess and specialization in nonprofits; comprehension of business models, methods and processes and entrepreneurial experience, creative insight, and market intelligence; experience as a government liaison; and, the competence to work across all three sectors on a wide range of projects and programs with face-to-face and virtual teams; and, all of which will have a positive effect on an organizations bottom line.
To Illustrate further, David’s areas of interests are as follows:
• Formation of joint ventures and partnerships between advocacies, grantmaking, and civic organizations and corporations and government.
• Government affairs, political advocacy, government relations; and, monitoring of legislative and political activity.
• General and operations management, Information systems and e-services; and, public relations, marketing research, and communications.
• Customer service representation, planning special events and fundraisers; and, providing entertainment, amusement, and motivational speaking for almost any occasion.
David Fullerton and his affiliates are available for your special event.
