Dave Clark (promoter)
Encyclopedia
Dave Clark was a pioneering African-American record promoter.
Born in Jackson, Tennessee
, Clark became interested in music after a teacher gave him piano and violin lessons. He later learned band music and performed as a teenager with traveling minstrel show
s.
He graduated from Lane College
in Jackson and attended Juilliard School
in New York. He began promoting for Decca Records
in 1938, beginning with Jimmie Lunceford
. This launched a career as a promoter for most major labels that recorded African-American music. He worked for Duke/Peacock for 17 years,and spent time with Chess, Alladin, Apollo, United, Stax, and TK, before landing at Malaco in 1980.
Clark also served as the musical consultant for several movies, including The Color Purple
. He wrote a column for Down Beat
during the 1960s called "Swing Row Is My Beat".
Clark had over 60 songs to his credit, including B.B. King's "Why I Sing The Blues". He was given a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation
in 1993.
Born in Jackson, Tennessee
Jackson, Tennessee
Jackson is a city in Madison County, Tennessee, United States. The total population was 65,211 at the 2010 census. Jackson is the primary city of the Jackson, Tennessee metropolitan area, which is included in the Jackson-Humboldt, Tennessee Combined Statistical Area...
, Clark became interested in music after a teacher gave him piano and violin lessons. He later learned band music and performed as a teenager with traveling minstrel show
Minstrel show
The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the Civil War, black people in blackface....
s.
He graduated from Lane College
Lane College
-Namesake:SS Lane Victory, a World War II Victory Ship, and one of the few such ships surviving, was named for Lane College. It is now docked in San Pedro, California . It is now open as a museum.-External links:*...
in Jackson and attended Juilliard School
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
in New York. He began promoting for Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
in 1938, beginning with Jimmie Lunceford
Jimmie Lunceford
James Melvin "Jimmie" Lunceford was an American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader in the swing era.-Biography:...
. This launched a career as a promoter for most major labels that recorded African-American music. He worked for Duke/Peacock for 17 years,and spent time with Chess, Alladin, Apollo, United, Stax, and TK, before landing at Malaco in 1980.
Clark also served as the musical consultant for several movies, including The Color Purple
The Color Purple
The Color Purple is an acclaimed 1982 epistolary novel by American author Alice Walker. It received the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction...
. He wrote a column for Down Beat
Down Beat
Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
during the 1960s called "Swing Row Is My Beat".
Clark had over 60 songs to his credit, including B.B. King's "Why I Sing The Blues". He was given a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation
Rhythm and Blues Foundation
The Rhythm and Blues Foundation is an independent American nonprofit organization dedicated to the historical and cultural preservation of rhythm and blues music....
in 1993.