Rising Stars: Meet Dave Clark

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dave Clark.

Hi Dave, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
When you know what you want to be when you grow up, you need to trust that instinct and go for it. From the time I was 3 or 4 years old, I used to run around the family room singing into a pencil, pretending I was Elvis singing into a microphone. I always wanted to be a performer, long before I knew how to sing or play an instrument.

While I picked up a guitar and first became a guitarist at age 14 (and learned to sing later), I didn’t take it seriously enough, at first. In fact, I was in various bands until age 26 when I decided to “get a real job.” Worst decision of my life.

Sure, “real jobs” provided means to an income and all that, but they provided no internal happiness; no satisfaction. Not one of them. All the jobs I did could be classified somewhere between “tolerable” and “horrible.” I’m just not cut out to report to a boss. I’m also anything but “corporate.” Like Samson, my long hair was my identity, and corporate America didn’t care for it.

After moving cross-country twice, I took my hobby and worked toward making it a career. I spent most of my time learning how to sing properly because, even though being a lead guitarist was fun, being the lead singer was always my ultimate goal. A game changing distinction in my musical career happened: I went from being a guitarist who could sing to becoming a singer who can play guitar.

When I left my last job in 2018, I knew I never wanted to work for anyone ever again, so I put all my energy into making music my full-time job. At the time, I was only performing once or twice a week. I needed to build up my voice and my repertoire, so I put in the work and began to increase my number of performances each week. I’m happy to say that music is my full-time job now, and on any given week, I’ll typically perform at least five shows, sometimes more. And I finally get to be my own boss, which is incredibly satisfying.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
When I first went back to performing, I would just hope to be able to get through a 2 or 3-hour set with my voice intact. Then, I challenged myself by booking shows on back-to-back days to see how my voice would hold up. Next, I booked performances three days in a row.

Finally, the ultimate challenge was booking multiple shows on the same day. These little challenges threw me into the fire, so to speak, and pushed me to improve. Today, I can sing pretty much any time, any day, and often will book multiple shows in a day when the opportunity presents itself.

You only know what you can do when you put yourself out there. You find a way to power through when you are doing something you WANT to do.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I have a dual music personality. I’m known around the Phoenix area for playing “classic rock favorites without the cliche.” I play throughout the Phoenix area, the Verde Valley and beyond.

But my truest passion is as a songwriter who writes and performs his own songs. My first album, Rock City, came out in 2018 and my new album, Arizona, is set for a summer 2023 release. On any given day, I’ll perform about 90% cover songs but work in 10% of my own songs, since those are the songs that are most important to me.

As far as what sets me apart from others…you’d have to ask someone that watches one of my shows. However, I can say that for every compliment I get about my guitar playing, I get a hundred compliments for my voice. Based on that, I’d say singing is my strong suit as far as being a performer is concerned. As a musician, in general, my songwriting is what definitely sets me apart from other musicians. Requests for my original songs continue to increase and people have told me time and time again how my music makes an impact on them.

Contact Info:

• Website: DaveClarkMusician.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/DaveClarkMusician
• Facebook: Facebook.com/DaveClarkMusician
• Spotify: Dave Clark Rock City

Image Credits
Laura Rosch Photography