David Sonenberg is known for being the founder of the music management label DAS Communications. Sonenberg also dabbled in the film industry as the producer of the Academy Award winning film When We Were Kings

When We Were Kings

When We Were Kings is a 1996 documentary film directed by Leon Gast about the famous Rumble in the Jungle heavyweight championship match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. The fight was held in Zaire on October 30, 1974.The film features a number of celebrities, including James Brown, Jim...

.

Born and raised in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, Sonenberg received a degree in Theater and Political Science at Tufts University

Tufts University

Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...

 and a law degree at Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...

. He joined the entertainment law

Entertainment law

Entertainment law or media law is a term for a mix of more traditional categories of law with a focus on providing legal services to the entertainment industry. The principal areas of Entertainment Law overlap substantially with the well-known and conventional field of intellectual property law...

 firm of Weissberger & Frosch, which counted among its clients Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...

, Richard Burton

Richard Burton

Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...

, John Gielgud

John Gielgud

Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...

, and Lawrence Olivier. Sonenberg represented Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 and Off Broadway musical productions, including Hair

Hair (musical)

Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement...

, Godspell

Godspell

Godspell is a musical by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak. It opened off Broadway on May 17, 1971, and has played in various touring companies and revivals many times since, including a 2011 revival now playing on Broadway...

, and Cabaret

Cabaret (musical)

Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions....

.

Sonenberg then established his own law firm and began DAS Communications Ltd., a full service management company located in New York and Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 for artists in the entertainment and amusement industries. DAS’s first management project, Meat Loaf

Meat Loaf

Michael Lee Aday , better known by his stage name, Meat Loaf, is an American hard rock musician and actor...

's Bat out of Hell

Bat out of Hell

Bat Out of Hell is the second album by American rock musician Meat Loaf, and his first collaboration with composer Jim Steinman, released in October 1977 on Cleveland International/Epic Records #PE-34974. Selling approximately 200,000 copies per year as of 2010, it is the fifth best-selling album...

, set an industry record for a debut album with worldwide record sales to date of more than 40 million. Sonenberg has stated that before representing Meat Loaf he thought managers were "lowlifes." Other clients of DAS Communications have included Jim Steinman, Jimmy Cliff

Jimmy Cliff

Jimmy Cliff, OM is a Jamaican musician, singer and actor. He is the only currently living musician to hold the Order of Merit, the highest honour that can be granted by the Jamaican government for achievement in the arts and sciences...

, Southside Johnny

Southside Johnny

Southside Johnny is an American singer-songwriter, who usually fronts his band Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes.-Early days:...

, Jimmy Iovine

Jimmy Iovine

James "Jimmy" Iovine is an American music producer, entrepreneur and chairman of Interscope-Geffen-A&M.-Biography:...

, BeBe & CeCe Winans

BeBe & CeCe Winans

BeBe & CeCe Winans are an American Gospel music brother and sister duo. BeBe and CeCe Winans are the seventh and eighth of "Mom" and "Pop" Winans' ten children, most of whom have had successful Gospel music careers.-Musical career:...

, Keith Thomas

Keith Thomas (producer)

Keith Thomas, born and raised in the Atlanta suburb of Conyers, Georgia, is a Grammy Award-winning producer and songwriter with 40 #1 Billboard hits...

, The Spin Doctors, The Fugees

The Fugees

Fugees were a Haitian American hip hop group who rose to fame in the mid-1990s. Their repertoire included elements of Hip hop, soul and Caribbean music, particularly reggae. The members of the group were rapper/singer/producer Wyclef Jean, rapper/singer/producer Lauryn Hill, and rapper Pras Michel...

, Joan Osborne

Joan Osborne

Joan Elizabeth Osborne is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for her song "One of Us". She has toured with Motown sidemen the Funk Brothers and was featured in the documentary film about them, Standing in the Shadows of Motown.-Biography:Originally from Anchorage, Kentucky, a suburb...

, Spacehog

Spacehog

Spacehog is an English rock band formed in 1994. Their music is heavily influenced by David Bowie, Queen, and T.Rex.-Members:* Royston Langdon a.k.a. "Ray Sprinkles" – bass and vocals...

, Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Noelle Hill is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress.Early in her career, she established her reputation as a member of the Fugees. In 1998, she launched her solo career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album, The Miseducation of...

, The Black Eyed Peas

The Black Eyed Peas

The Black Eyed Peas are an American pop group , formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1995. The group includes rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, and Taboo, and singer Fergie. Since the release of their third album Elephunk in 2003, the group has sold an estimated 56 million records worldwide...

, Ke$ha, Indiggo

Indiggo

Indiggo is the stage name of the identical twin sisters Gabriela and Mihaela Modorcea. Together they are professional actresses, singers, writers, songwriters. They were born in Romania on June 7. The roots of their family are in Transylvania, and they are also known as Dracula's Girls...

, Antonio Pontarelli

Antonio Pontarelli

Antonio Pontarelli , the concertmaster of the San Diego Youth Symphony from 2003 to 2005, winner of seven violin competitions as well as numerous other national and international music awards, is further known as a singer/songwriter and electric violinist...

 and many others. To date, artists represented by DAS Communications have written, produced, and performed recordings with sales totaling in excess of 200 million records worldwide.

1997 saw the release of Sonenberg’s first film project, the acclaimed documentary When We Were Kings about boxer Muhammed Ali, for which Sonenberg received an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. In 2002 he was the producer of Dance of the Vampires

Dance of the Vampires

Dance of the Vampires is a musical remake of a 1967 Roman Polanski film of the same name . Polanski also directed the original German production of this musical...

 on Broadway.

DAS Ventures Ltd, another of the DAS family of companies, entered into agreements with Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono

is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...

 and the Estate of John Lennon

John Lennon

John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...

 in 1997, which culminated in the launch of The John Lennon Songwriting Contest

John Lennon Songwriting Contest

The John Lennon Songwriting Contest, named for the former member of The Beatles, is a songwriting competition for songwriters, open to amateurs and professionals. The contest accepts instrumental pieces as well as songs with a vocal component. Though all entries must include a CD, cassette, or...

. Over 28,000 songs were submitted by aspiring songwriters in the inaugural year of the competition.