David Shelley

His grandfather Buddy DeSylva, along with Glenn Wallichs and Johnny Mercer, founded Capitol Records in 1942.

DeSylva also was known for writing such standards as "California Here I Come" and "The Best Things in Life Are Free."

Shelley's mother, actress and singer Martha Stewart, sang in big bands with Glenn Miller and Harry James and acted on Broadway and in films and TV, including In a Lonely Place (1950) starring Humphrey Bogart.

David began playing drums in high school in Florida and eventually took up guitar under the guidance of his friend Jeff Savage in California, who turned Shelley onto the blues via an extensive record collection.

When producer Goetzman got David's songs chosen for Roger Vadim's And God Created Woman, (remake-in-name-only of the director's 1956 classic with Brigitte Bardot), Shelley was cast to act as a rock band member in the movie, performing his own music, credited as "Dave Shelley".

David's appearance in And God Created Woman caught the eye of casting directors and he was hired to portray a guitar player in the video for "You Wouldn't Know Love" from Cher's Heart of Stone album.

David Joseph Shelley (November 23, 1957 – August 10, 2015) was an American blues rock musician who performed with Cher and released two critically acclaimed albums, That's My Train (2012) and Trick Bag (2013).

David Shelley was born November 23, 1957, in Santa Monica, California.

Returning to Florida in 1979, Shelley founded Ocean Sound Studio, a sixteen track recording facility, with childhood friend Michael Couzzi (who would go on to engineer hit albums like Santana's Supernatural).

David played percussion live and in the studio with jazz artist Randy Bernsen, legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius, other local artists and his first self-led band, instrumental funk group Captiva.

In 1982, David Shelley joined popular area reggae band Ti'shan as singer and guitarist.

Ti'shan played original music, provided back-up for visiting reggae artists like Barrington Levy and opened for The Clash.

Shelley appeared on Ti'shan's 1982 LP "Ti'shan Reggae Music" and in videos for the band's songs.

In 1984, David left Ti'shan to front his own band, Special Forces (eventually renamed The David Shelley Band), performing his original "power-dance-reggae" music.

The David Shelley Band was a regional success, opening for reggae superstar Dennis Brown, The Kinks, Laura Branigan, Cheap Trick, Eddie Money and among the headliners at Miami's Big Orange Festival.

In February 1984, Shelley recorded a three-song demo at Criteria Studios in Miami, produced by Ron and Howard Albert, best known for producing Stephen Stills' albums.

Two more songs followed in October, recorded at New River Studios in Fort Lauderdale with producer Alan Blazak, who had recently hit with Glenn Frey`s The Allnighter.

David's then manager Arnie Wohl pressed the five songs on a 12" EP that was distributed to regional record stores. Radio station WSHE (FM 103.5) added one of the songs, "She's Only Rock `n` Roll", to its playlist and adopted it as a theme song. Major label MCA Records showed interest and financed David to record three more demo songs with Mike Couzzi and producer-writer Doug Shawe.

Shelley moved to Los Angeles anticipating a deal and eventually signed with MCA in October 1985.

For his major label debut, David Shelley worked with co-producers Gary Goetzman and Mike Picarillo, whose production credits included Smokey Robinson, Kim Carnes, The Staple Singers, La Toya Jackson and the Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense.

Talking Heads member Jerry Harrison played keyboard on David's song "Battle of the Sexes".

An album's worth of material was recorded, but upheaval at the label from MCA's involvement in the "indie" payola scandal of 1986 caused the record to be shelved and David dropped from the roster.

Shelley continued to seek a record deal, performing at rock clubs in Los Angeles with his band Ku De Tah (which included Colvin Fields from Ti'shan and The David Shelley Band) and various recording sessions, including singing on Richard Marx's hit debut album Richard Marx.

He performed with Cher at the 1988 MTV Video Music Awards and in the controversial video for the song "If I Could Turn Back Time".

Shelley became a member of Cher's backup band (which included Darlene Love) for the Heart of Stone Tour, performing in the US, Canada, England, Ireland and Australia and appeared with Cher on the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards and Cher Extravaganza: Live at The Mirage (1992).

In the early 1990s David Shelley began jamming with drummer and painter Darren Vigil Gray in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

In 1991, David Shelley joined the live studio band for The Ron Reagan Show, a syndicated late-night talk show addressing political issues of the day hosted by Ron Reagan, son of President Ronald Reagan.

Led by D.A. Young who had played with Shelley in Ku De Tah, the band was called D.A. and Dr. Bombay and included Hawk Lopez, musician/actor who had joined David in the Vadim film.

The music was all instrumental.

The program was canceled after a brief run, unable to compete with the higher ratings of The Arsenio Hall Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and Nightline.

Reagan has said that Shelley and the band were "the one undeniably wonderful aspect" of the show.

With longtime friend Michael Tovar and Ray Rodriguez from Food For Feet (East LA band formed with Oingo Boingo's John Avila) and bassist Charles Gasper, they formed Seventh Son (named after the Willie Dixon song) and began performing live in 1995.

Featuring Native American musicians (Vigil Gray being Jicarilla Apache/Kiowa Apache, Gasper Zuni Pueblo, additional singer Canadian-born vocalist Star Nayea Ojibwe), Seventh Son played events such as Redstock and annually at Santa Fe's Indian Market, eventually taking over the name of Vigil Gray's previous band, The Mud Ponies (from the Pawnee legend ).

Their music has been described as "high-energy blues" and "world beat with an edge".

By 1996, David Shelley was living between Los Angeles and Florida with stays in Santa Fe working with The Mud Ponies.

The band had a monthlong engagement as Seventh Son in Helsinki, Finland, with Hawk Lopez replacing Vigil Gray on drums.

In Los Angeles, Shelley and Tovar played around town with Blues Farm, a band including Jimmy Griego (from Bobby Kimball of Toto's band) and recorded a demo tape of original Shelley tunes.

Among the guest artists often sitting in with the band was guitarist Coco Montoya, who encouraged David to pursue a blues music career.

In South Florida, Shelley began reintroducing himself to the scene as a blues artist, performing with Shack Daddys, The Weld and other players.

Shelley also played with a country and western band in Nashville and got bit parts in the movies Basquiat (1996) and New Rose Hotel (1998) starring Christopher Walken.