David Ross Cohen is a Canadian-born musician and producer based out of

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. Cohen is a keyboardist who has recorded with

Florida Georgia Line Florida Georgia Line was an American country music duo founded in 2010 by vocalists and songwriters Tyler Hubbard of Georgia and Brian Kelley of Florida. Their 2012 debut single " Cruise" broke two major sales records: it was downloaded over ...

Carrie Underwood Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of ''American Idol'' in 2005, returning as a judge beginning with the twenty-third season. Underwood's f ...

Kid Rock Robert James Ritchie (born January 17, 1971), known professionally as Kid Rock, is an American musician, singer, rapper, and songwriter. After establishing himself in the Music of Detroit#Hip-hop, Detroit hip-hop scene, he broke through into m ...

Steven Tyler Steven Victor Tallarico (born March 26, 1948), known professionally as Steven Tyler, is an American singer and songwriter. Tyler is best known as the lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the keyboards, h ...

, and

Reba McEntire Reba Nell McEntire ( ; born March 28, 1955), or simply Reba, is an American country music, country singer and actress. Dubbed "Honorific nicknames in popular music, The Queen of Country", she has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Sin ...

. Throughout his career, he has accumulated several awards including

Academy of Country Music The Academy of Country Music (ACM) was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Among the founders were Eddie Miller (songwriter), Eddie Miller, Tommy Wiggins, and Mickey and Chris ...

Keyboard Player of the Year in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023 and ''

MusicRow ''MusicRow'' is a Nashville music industry trade publication. The publication delivers online content in addition to six annual print magazines including its InCharge, Artist Roster and Publisher directories. MusicRow Enterprises is also home t ...

'' All-Star Keyboards Player in 2018 and 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. Also making a name for himself as a producer, Cohen has produced 87,456 songs for the likes of

Jake Owen Joshua Ryan Owen (born August 28, 1981), known professionally as Jake Owen, is an American country music singer. Signed to RCA Nashville in 2006, he released his debut studio album, '' Startin' with Me'', that year. This album produced three ...

Dallas Smith Dallas Hendry Smith (born December 4, 1977) is a Canadian singer and songwriter, who performs both as a solo country music artist and as lead singer for the hard rock band Default. He is currently signed to Big Loud Records. Smith is the curr ...

Chris Lane Christopher Eric Lane (born November 9, 1984) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He has released one album as frontman of the Chris Lane Band, a second album, ''Girl Problems'', and a third album, ''Laps Around the Sun (Chris Lane ...

Morgan Wallen Morgan Cole Wallen (born May 13, 1993) is an American country pop singer from Sneedville, Tennessee. He competed in the The Voice (American season 6), sixth season of ''The Voice (American TV series), The Voice''. After being eliminated in the ...

, and

Hardy Hardy may refer to: People * Hardy (surname) * Hardy (given name) * Hardy (singer), American singer-songwriter Places Antarctica * Mount Hardy, Enderby Land * Hardy Cove, Greenwich Island * Hardy Rocks, Biscoe Islands Australia * Hardy, ...

Early life and career

Cohen was born August 30, 1985, in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, and moved to

Calgary, Alberta Calgary () is a major city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a Metropolitan area, metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the List of ...

at age 5. It was when he moved to Calgary that he began classical piano lessons. He attended Henry Wise Wood Senior High School in Calgary and later attended

Humber College The Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, rebranded as Humber Polytechnic since 2024, is a public Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, college in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1967, Humber has three mai ...

in Toronto where he focused on jazz performance, specifically jazz piano. Cohen began his career in Canada touring with stars

Johnny Reid John Kirkland Reid (born August 21, 1973) is a Scottish-Canadian country music artist. Reid moved to Canada in July 1989 when he was 16 from Scotland United Kingdom. His father, a diesel mechanic, wanted to give Reid and his brother opportunitie ...

and

Amanda Marshall Amanda Meta Marshall (born August 29, 1972) is a Canadian Juno award winning pop-rock singer and songwriter. She has released four studio albums; the first was certified diamond in Canada, with the second and third certified 3× platinum and p ...

. He was nominated twice for Keyboard Player of the Year at the

Canadian Country Music Awards The Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) was founded in 1976 as the Academy of Country Music Entertainment to organize, promote and develop a Canadian country music industry. The groundwork for the association began on June 3, 1973, when a gr ...

Current career

Cohen moved to Nashville in April 2007 and has since amassed a number of notable credits. He began his time in Nashville touring with the likes of

Joe Nichols Joseph Edward Nichols (born November 26, 1976) is an American country music artist. Between 1996 and 2001, he held recording contracts with the Intersound and Giant Records (Warner), Giant labels. In 2002, he signed with Universal South Records, ...

Big & Rich Big & Rich is an American country music duo composed of Big Kenny and John Rich, both of whom are songwriters, vocalists, and guitarists. Before the duo's foundation, Rich was bass guitarist in the country band Lonestar, while Kenny was a sol ...

, and

Wynonna Judd Wynonna Ellen Judd, known simply as Wynonna ( ; born Christina Claire Ciminella; May 30, 1964), is an American country music singer. She is one of the most widely recognized and awarded female country musicians in history. She has had 19 No. 1 s ...

before making the shift to session work as a studio musician in 2012. Cohen has worked in the studio with a wide range of artists from

Rascal Flatts Rascal Flatts is an American Country music, country music band formed in 1999 in Nashville, Tennessee. The band consists of Gary LeVox (lead vocals), Jay DeMarcus (bass guitar, background vocals), and Joe Don Rooney (lead guitar, background voc ...

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran ( ; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

. Some of the most prominent country music artists he has worked with include

, Old Dominion,

Brett Eldredge Brett Ryan Eldredge (born March 23, 1986) is an American country music singer, songwriter and record producer. Eldredge has had five No. 1 singles on the ''Billboard'' Country Airplay chart, three of which came from his debut album, '' Brin ...

, Chris Young,

Walker Hayes Charles Edgar Walker Hayes (born December 27, 1979) is an American country pop singer and songwriter. He has released four studio albums: ''Reason to Rhyme'' in 2011 on Capitol Records Nashville, and ''Boom (Walker Hayes album), Boom ''(2017), ' ...

Jon Pardi Jonathan Ryan Pardi (born May 20, 1985) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Signed to Capitol Records Nashville, Capitol Nashville, he has released five studio albums: ''Write You a Song'' (2014), ''California Sunrise'' (2016), ...

Cole Swindell Colden Rainey Swindell (born June 30, 1983) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He has written singles for Craig Campbell (singer), Craig Campbell, Thomas Rhett, Scotty McCreery, and Luke Bryan, and has released four albums for W ...

Josh Turner Joshua Otis Turner (born November 20, 1977) is an American Country music, country singer and songwriter. In 2003, he signed to Universal Music Group Nashville, MCA Nashville Records. That same year, his Long Black Train, debut album's title t ...

, Brooks and Dunn, and

Kip Moore Kip Christian Moore (born April 1, 1980) is an American country music singer and songwriter signed to Virgin Music Group. Moore previously recorded for Universal Music Group Nashville, MCA Nashville, where he released five studio albums for th ...

. In addition to working with these esteemed artists, Cohen has also collaborated with top notch producers like

Joey Moi Joey Moi (born August 9, 1975) is a Canadian record producer, audio engineer, mixer, songwriter, and musician. He is known for his work with the rock groups Nickelback and My Darkest Days, and country music acts Chris Lane, Dallas Smith, Florida G ...

, Dann Huff, Tony Brown,

Byron Gallimore Byron Gallimore (born in Puryear, Tennessee) is an American record producer known for his work in the field of country music. He has worked with artists Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Sugarland, Lee Ann Womack, and Jo Dee Messina. Faith Hill's 1999 albu ...

, and

Shane McAnally Shane Lamar McAnally (born October 12, 1974) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and record producer. He debuted as a singer in 1999 with his Shane McAnally (album), self-titled album on Curb Records. This project produced three sing ...

. While making a name for himself as a successful studio musician, Cohen has also recently been working as a producer. Cohen has produced Australian artist Mick Lindsay and teamed up with fellow producer Joey Moi to co-produce Chris Lane's “Laps Around the Sun." Cohen has worked on music from a number of genres including Country, Hip-Hop, Christian, and Rock. Cohen recently worked on Reba McEntire's “Sing it Now: Songs of Faith & Hope,” which won Best Roots Gospel Album at the 2018

GRAMMY Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

Discography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Dave 1985 births Living people Canadian keyboardists Canadian male songwriters Canadian Country Music Award winners