David Lyve: The Music and the Man

I first met David Lyve in the fall when he was a part of a music showcase at SOBs in SoHo here in New York City. When it was his time to hit the stage, the announcer called out his name and he emerged from the crowded room of people playing the strings of his guitar.
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"Hello my name is David Lyve! That's Lyve with a Y and not an I."

There is something very unassuming about music artist David Lyve as he starts each set with the saying up above. What is very noticeable and in-your-face is his talent and sheer brilliance when it comes to music. I say brilliance because this guy taught himself to play multiple instruments and now he's paying it forward as a middle school music teacher in Philadelphia. I met up with David on a cold winter day at a wine bar that's now no longer there on the Upper West Side. It was my suggestion to meet there so we could talk about his music and his life. If you haven't heard of David Lyve, he is certainly someone you should know.

I first met David Lyve in the fall when he was a part of a music showcase at SOBs in SoHo here in New York City. When it was his time to hit the stage, the announcer called out his name and he emerged from the crowded room of people playing the strings of his guitar. It was something about him that screamed early days of D'Angelo. You know, the D'Angelo that sold you sexy before he even hit the stage. But there was something very meek and mild about David and his stage presence and his ability to reach everyone in the room that night. I'll get back to that in a moment, but I want to take you back to my meeting with him at this wine bar on the Upper West Side. It was in the wine bar that I started to learn more about David the man and David Lyve the performer, who if you let him tell it are the same person. "When I'm on stage, I'm on stage," he tells me.

The stage, according to David, is the place he was born to be. It's a passion he developed growing up in Richmond, Virginia. He doesn't come from a huge musical family. He will tell you that he basically surprised his family when he mentioned at the young tender age of six that he wanted to sing and learn to play music. His first instrument was the guitar and since then he has learned to play the piano and several other instruments. Every instrument he plays he mastered by going hard at practicing them. Those instruments have helped with writing and producing two successful albums. His first album Finding Love and his second, Love For Real, boast some classic R&B infused with his love of rock-n-roll. David Lyve loves the likes of Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Wonder. David writes a lot about love. He says it's something he can relate to. He describes his music as being, "It's love on a disc; I'm not one of those guys that just do a song for nothing." His newest album, Love For Real, is a collection of love songs filled with emotion and the true words of David Lyve. There's a lot to be said about Lyve and why he decided his first two albums would be centered on love. He has a strong and undying love for the art form and he will tell you himself that he wants his music to inspire and reach the masses.

David Lyve is well on his way because recently he ended up on the radar of one of music's most popular entertainers. He describes his sit-down meeting in the studio with Missy Elliott as one of the happiest times of his life. "I don't know anybody in the music industry, so for this meeting to happen, it was just unbelievable."

"It was so great to have someone of her caliber just say to me that I can count on her as an ally," he said. The meeting between the two came from a tweet sent from his camp to Missy. David had no idea that it would land him in front of the producer and hip-hop superstar. The meeting was extra special because David grew up in Richmond, Virginia and Missy is from Portsmouth, Virginia. He was even more surprised to know that Missy was already familiar with his musical talents and had been checking out some of his songs and videos on YouTube. The two of them talked for about two hours about their home state and of course music. David left the meeting assured that he and Missy would eventually end up in the studio together again, but this time would be different. They would be working on music to send out into the world. David Lyve certainly has a voice and something to say. His music will leave you wanting more and if you ever have the opportunity to catch him live you should definitely not pass it up. He is a showman that puts on a fantastic show. Take it from me, you definitely want to get a headstart so that when David Lyve's showbiz career takes off you can be among the few who can boast about knowing him when. Check him out across all social media platforms and his albums on iTunes.

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