David Lasley

David Eldon Lasley (August 20, 1947 – December 9, 2021) was an American recording artist, singer, musician and songwriter. He was best known as a touring background singer for James Taylor, as a session singer on recordings by artists including Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, Luther Vandross, Chic, Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, Bette Midler, Cher, Dusty Springfield and Boz Scaggs; as a songwriter for artists including Bonnie Raitt, Whitney Houston, Anita Baker, Maxine Nightingale, Rita Coolidge, Crystal Gayle, and Luther Vandross; and for his solo albums, albums with his 1970s vocal group Rosie, and for his early years in Detroit with his vocal group The Utopias.

His best known songs include Maxine Nightingale’s “Lead Me On” (co-written with Allee Willis); The Manhattan Transfer’s “Shaker Song” (co-written with Willis and Jay Beckenstein), and Boz Scaggs’ “Jojo” (co-written with Scaggs and David Foster).In 1980, David Lasley was signed by David Geffen to Geffen Records. At the time he was one of the chief staff writers at Irving Almo Music.In The Advocate, 1985 Adam Block described Lasley as “one of the most heard, least known, figures in pop”, with a “velvet falsetto” and “songwriting reminiscent of early Laura Nyro”. Stephen Holden described Lasley as “the somewhat more refined white soul singer” in a comparison with the high tenor of Mick Hucknall of Simply Red.Lasley appears in the cast of 20 Feet from Stardom.

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