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David Bull is an established Canadian singer, songwriter, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and producer. He is developing a growing international fan base and is well respected amongst other musicians world wide. For over three decades he has written and recorded Rock n Roll, Rockabilly and Blues. Dave has established himself on stages, television, radio, in theatres, festivals, civic venues and in print as a significant force in rockabilly and rock’ roll over the years with over 1000 live performances, some 16 CDs and a catalog of over 400 songs to his credit. He is known best for his portrayal of Buddy Holly in Buddy Holly Live!

Born three months, three weeks and three days after the plane crash which claimed the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper in 1959 in Toronto, Ontario, Dave got his first guitar at age 15 after beginning on piano at age 8 at the Royal Conservatory of Music.

His first guitar lessons were from the Eli Kassner Institute on Belmont Street in Toronto at the same time as classical guitarist and Canadian icon Liona Boyd. That’s where the similarity ended as did his musings to play classical guitar. After a year, he realized he was better suited to the self-taught method immersing himself in Milton Okun’s “Great Songs of the Sixties”. He began teaching himself all of the chords one at a time. He began writing his first songs within months of picking up the guitar in his first band “Stonehenge”. At that time he was heavily influenced by CCR, Alice Cooper, Rush, Steppenwolf, Black Sabbath as well as Buddy Holly, The Doors, The Beatles, Johnny Winter, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and oddly enough, a number of early American greats like Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Jerome Kern, The Gershwin brothers, Art Tatum and his own father John Bull.

Tracing his lineage back to Dr. John Bull (author of God Save the King – 1562), David has a long history of musicianship in his family history traced back to The Isle of Guernsey in the south of England in the 1690s, the family then emigrated to North America through Pennsylvania and eventually settling in Ontario where they still reside. Music is a driving force in his life that appears to come naturally from the forces of nature as well as nurture.

 David’s grandfather Harry P. Bull (1875-1951) was a musician in the Star Lyceum Troubadours at the turn of the century, opting for a life in vaudeville to avoid serving in the Boer War (1899-1902). Harry played under the name of Reginald Cosgrove well into the early 1900s from California to Texas, Florida to Alaska and everywhere in between. He settled in Winnipeg, finally working for his brother Frank Bull (The Piano man’s Daughter – Timothy Findlay, author) in the Williams piano factory as Vice President until it closed in 1931. His grandfather created a musical chord wheel system – which David uses to this day to determine relationships between notes and chords and it has shaped his style and system of learning and playing to this day. The original wheel was hand written in 1905 and it still exists. David still uses the wheel’s principles, which he has long-since memorized.

His father John Bull (1929 – present) was also an accomplished pianist and songwriter. It is from his father that he gets his wide musical scope along with the influence of his grandfather’s chord and melody system.

David has developed a style of his own, diverse in style but always energetic. He has written over 400 songs evolving with each new influence. The result is Rockabilly with a rock tone while having influences in jazz and classical shaping a wide spectrum of songs. He has mastered the Buddy Holly sound having portrayed the Texan pioneer of rock n’ roll in Buddy Holly Live! in theatres across Ontario and New York after years as a professional musician in the Canadian rock and blues scene.

Rick Nelson, DJ described Dave “This is Buddy Holly. This isn’t a representation…I’m seeing Buddy Holly”. Kathleen Hay, Of The Cornwall Freeholder described his performance as “Truly polished showcasing his musical talent”. Patricia Taggett said “Canada’s Dave Bull pulls off the transformation

Yet… it didn’t start with Buddy Holly Live!… Dave has been writing and recording songs since 1975. They start out on napkins, matchbooks, pieces of stray paper, whatever and whenever they occur to him – usually transcribed later into usable format. His large library of originals has never been presented to a record company. Over 250 have been recorded, most of the earlier ones with David playing all of the instruments and signing all of the vocals himself. Later, he has done more collaborations often developing earlier songs into more polished works – refining melodies and lyrics in the process. His style is varied, but has settled lately on a style consistent with his rockabilly persona. He has played live continuously since 1977 when he played in Stonehenge, through The studio Years while at University (1983-1987), eventually playing with The Rave (1988-1998) with Stuart Pike as drummer/vocalist and Kevin Murphy on bass. He also played concurrently with The Mudcats (1993-1995) a southern hard rock blues band out of Kingston. They played cover songs from The Allman Brothers, Johnny Winter, B.B. King, Albert Collins, Buddy Guy, Tinsley Ellis, Ellmore James, Omar and the Howlers, Los Lobos, Eric Clapton and other great blues artists while developing his new style. No doubt this spawned his interest in rockabilly -  blues sped up to bluegrass speed. Likely this also aroused his curiosity around country music.

During that same period (1994-1998), he composed some 60 songs in the studio - a 5 CD compilation with his brother Eric assisting on keyboards called Joe & Al. Many of those songs have been developed into some of the more eclectic and eccentric melodies found in Dave’s repertoire. He then did a one CD original blues project (1999-2000) entitled Sunny Lemon Tina – a jocular name derived from “Sonnez Les matines” – Frere Jacques.

It was in 1999 that Buddy Holly Live! took root (Stuart Pike and bassist Marty Crapper, descendant of Thomas Crapper, the inventor of the flush toilet) culminating in 2003 (final performance was a private performance in June of 2006). Buddy Holly Live! was by all accounts a smashing success with dozens of sold out shows and rave reviews as throughout the entire period. The Rockabilly All Stars began when in 2003 when Crapper took a sabbatical to South America.

In 2003 after Crapper left Buddy Holly Live! on his sabbatical, Clint Hierlihy, founder of the Esquires (Juno winners of 1964 – The Canadian equivalent of a Grammy) took over the duties on bass and Gary Barratt took over on drums. Scott Evans soon replaced Barratt and the trio still play today with Craig Jones taking over the live duties for Hierlihy. Hierlihy had played with Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and The Dave Clark Five in his days with the Esquires earning Best vocal Group Award. He is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of fame. Canadian music icon, Bruce Cockburn,  was among the later members of the Esquires prior to their split in 1966.

Dave is perhaps a studio-oriented live performer – a writer at heart, but he has played well over 1000 shows in his career to audiences of up to 5,000. Fighting his natural urges to write, he played live until pressure brought from outside made him realize at 47 he can begin to use his storehouse of songs for younger artists to play and assist them in the studio – having entertained tens of thousands of people over the years and having accomplished what he set out to achieve on the live circuit, he is now unfolding and exposing his life’s body of recorded work (rock n roll, rockabilly, alternative, instrumental soundtracks, pop, blues and jazz) to the world. This is vast collection upon which he continues to build, always emphasizing innovation and newness. His songs are so varied, he is truly a passionate musicologist.

His greatest influence has been his life partner and co-writer JP Rayne. Under the Rayne-Bull Productions aura, David has begun to produce his best work and rework his original classics while co-composing new ones. JP Rayne is an accomplished artist holding a bachelor of Fine Arts from Queens University. JP’s bio is also impressive encompassing radio, television, film, photography, painting, audio-visual arts, lyric and songwriting, piano, guitar and percussion. She has practiced yoga for over 35 years, instructing at the University for the past 12. As a vegetarian and an inspired critical thinker, she brings a dimension which has resulted in the blossoming of David’s body of work and artisitic skill. This powerful combination is the fulcrum from which the career of this hidden talent, possibly genius duo make their way onto the world music scene.

Dave and J.P. have their own recording studio (Stay-in-Track Studio) which they use for Rayne-Bull Music to record their songs. This publishing interest is expanding and the library is being promoted internationally.

Some of the highlights Dave's career so far:

1975: Eli Kassner Institute – learning beside Liona Boyd
1977: First band Stonehenge is formed – first concert attendance 500
1977-1982: Stay-in-Track Studio earliest recordings.
1983: Moves to Kingston – attends Queen’s University (Between Degrees is formed)
1985: Crossroads
1986: Wrote and recorded 100th song in January                          
1988: The Rave is formed and plays some 700 shows over the next 10 years (no studio recordings were made, though several live tapes exist)
1993: The Mudcats (Southern Blues band concurrent with The Rave)         1994-1998: Joe & Al (“For Y’ Ears” and “Zoomin” (2 CDS), plus “Out There”, “In Orbit”, “Losing Gravity”, “Hearing Voices” and “The Dregs” a 5 CD collection)   . Limited private release.  The pair does the soundtrack to a TV commercial in 1999 for the Government of Canada, Dave does French voiceover (as he is bilingual)                                 
1997: Dave forms Sunny Lemon Tina after involvement in Jesse Stewart’s Flower Power (live Theatre)                                            
1998: Sunny Lemon Tina  (1 self-titled limited release CD in 2000)     
1999: Buddy Holly Live! www.buddyholly.ca (produces For the First Time Again 1, 2 and 3 - 3 CDs in 2001-02)                           
2000-2003: Buddy Holly Live! tours the province an appears on radio (30 interviews plus airplay) and Dave does several (6-10) television appearances, at major festivals (crowds of up to 5,000), casinos from Eastern Ontario to New York State (U.S.). Reviews are glowing. Most shows are sellouts.
2003: The Rockabilly All Stars are formed www.rockabillyallstars.com and release The Rockabilly All Stars first CD at KBP in November 2003      
2004: The Rockabilly All Stars play live festivals and shows in Ontario     
2005: The Rockabilly All Stars acquire Scott Evans on Drums and vocals and release their second CD: Rockabilly Nouveau – Buddy Holly Live! plays it’s final show on July 29th in Toronto to an oversold out house to rave reviews.                                                         
2006: Dave does the soundtrack to a National TV commercial (The Fishin’ Song).The Rockabilly All Stars acquire Craig Jones on bass and vocals as “Cleatus Crow” and play festivals and large venue events. Dave decides to pursue recording projects and original music and forms an alliance with Kissy Records and does some collaborative work for Shawn Harvey from Essex, U.K. Dave plans studio work with Scott Evans and Clint Hierlihy for a new Buddy Holly Big Hits release as well as more new originals recordings such as “Big Ol’ Party”, “Amazing Things”, and several other as of yet untitled songs. A compilation of instrumental guitar (resonator and acoustic guitar) soundtracks will also be assembled (already recorded earlier in the year) for release in the summer of 2007.

This Year So Far:

2006: January- September – The Rockabilly All Stars play live gigs across Eastern Ontario.
2006: September – recorded several new originals for next Rockabilly All Stars CD – recording project beginning with intent to do 4 projects at once – Buddy Holly’s greatest hits (with Clint Hierlihy), New Rockabilly All Stars 3rd CD (with Craig Jones), collaboration with Shawn Harvey (EP or new CD) and Rayne-Bull records new release of new originals and previously unreleased recorded work from 2005.
2006: Dave did lead guitar work on “Cash on Delivery” and resonator and slide work on “Chain Smokin’ Louisiana man” for Shawn Harvey, UK rockabilly artist
2006: September - Dave affiliates with Kissy Music www.kissymusic.com or www.myspace.com/kissymusic in the U.K. in addition to MySpace www.myspace.com/rockabillyallstars and www.myspace.com/stayintrack to begin international distribution and promotion of his song library. Other artists being engaged in writing and recording Dave’s songs include The Rockabilly All Stars, Shawn Harvey from Essex, U.K. and Pete Carroll from Scotland.

Some interesting facts:

Dave’s grandfather, Harry P. Bull (3rd on top right) played in The Star Lyceum Troubadours from 1899-1910 traveling from Florida to California through Canada and up into Alaska as a pianist during the ragtime era.  This is a picture of a poster from 1900.

Dave’s band The Rave played over 500 gigs from 1988-1998 across Eastern Ontario and was one the region’s most popular acts.           - Dave’s favourite guitar is his 1970 candy red Gibson SG 2

Dave's song catalogue at Stay-in-Track Music stands at over 400 self written works to date, and growing....

Dave currently co-writes with his wife and partner J.P. Rayne. They have a combined catalog of some 50 works since 2001. They are in the process of recording and writing songs on an ongoing basis producing critically acclaimed works such as “Amazing Things”, “Breakthrough” (from the Rockabilly All Stars, Rockabilly Nouveau CD) and are preparing a major release of studio recordings for XM radio and digital distribution.

www.myspace.com/stayintrack

www.buddyholly.ca

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