Dave Stephens grew up in a small town 40 miles east of Vancouver, Canada. At age 7 he started playing piano. His ability to play by ear both helped and hindered him in his studies. His piano teacher had to come up with creative ways to teach him to read music as he could play most of his pieces by ear after having read the music only once.
Dave’s early music listening was heavily steeped in ’70’s AM radio, a fact that Dave attests shaped the way he writes his own music “I grew up listening to music in the back seat of my mom’s car. There was a lot of Beatles, Billy Joel and bands like 10CC. It was the AM Gold era.” Dave picked up the guitar at age 15 as in his own words, “Stairway To Heaven never sounded that great on my piano.”
Dave’s teenage years saw him playing guitar religiously trying to imitate his musical heroes of the time. Guitar players like Jimmy Page, Brian May and Nuno Bettencourt set the bar high for Dave. Even still he persisted and after graduating high school enrolled in CDIS, a recording school in Vancouver, to learn the ins and outs of music production.
In 2004, Dave released his first full-length album, here we go… In addition to recording and producing the album, Dave played almost all of the instruments. The album contained songs I Wish In So Many Ways, and Livin’ In A Dream. Two tracks definitive of the Beatles-esque melodic style Dave Stephens has become known for. In the same year, Vancouver Director Mike Jackson directed a music video for Livin In A Dream, featuring robots in a lesbian love triangle.
Having felt like he had exhausted the Vancouver music scene, in 2006 Dave relocated to Southern California. By this time, he had recorded most of his sophomore release, Stories For Copper. The album, which Dave felt was his greatest achievement, saw the musician again playing most of the instruments, and to his delight, arranging and recording live string parts for many of the album’s twelve tracks.
In March of the same year, just prior to the release of Stories For Copper, Dave was contacted by radio DJ Michael McCartney requesting to play some of the album’s tracks on his Maui-based radio show - The Time Machine. Of the songs Dave sent, McCartney started playing what became Dave’s first single, I’ve Woken Up. It wasn’t long after; that DJ Adam Waltemire of Pop Garden Radio started playing Home, which quickly became a fan favorite. A music video for Home, directed by Vancouver directors Clif Prowse and Alec MacNeill Richardson, also started to make it’s away around the web.
Upon first arriving in the US, unable to legally work based on the conditions of his visa, Dave decided to pour his attention into establishing himself in the independent radio scene. He spent much of his days contacting every station he could that played The Beatles, Rufus Wainwright, Jellyfish and other musicians with music similar to his own. Within a few months, he was being played on over 30 stations in the US and the UK, and being invited to play festivals and shows in the area. Dave spent the next three years playing with his live band consisting of Alison Lewis on Bass, and Cody Upcraft on Drums.
The 2nd half of 2010 saw some changes to Dave's band lineup. Long time friend and colaborator Ricardo Vidana re-joined the band on guitar, and Bass player Alison Lewis left the band to persue other projects. In her place, bass player Nick Ebright has added a new energy to the live ensemble. On November 1st, 2010 Dave released Time Will Tell after a very successful campaign raising funds on kickstarter.com. The album which took 2 years to complete features lavish arrangements and live string parts, and can now be purchased in the Dave Stephens Online Store.