David Miotke (born December 15, 1944) is an American keyboard player and singer, who under the name Dave Michaels was co-founder of the 1960s

acid rock Acid rock is a loosely defined type of rock music that evolved out of the mid-1960s garage rock, garage punk movement and helped launch the psychedelia, psychedelic subculture. While the term has sometimes been used interchangeably with "psyc ...

band

H. P. Lovecraft Howard Phillips Lovecraft (, ; August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American writer of Weird fiction, weird, Science fiction, science, fantasy, and horror fiction. He is best known for his creation of the Cthulhu Mythos. Born in Provi ...

. Born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, Miotke studied at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

earning a bachelor's degree in music theory and composition and a master's degree in applied piano. While an undergraduate in 1967, and performing under the name Dave Michaels, he joined folk singer George Edwards in forming the band H. P. Lovecraft. They released two albums, ''

'' and ''

H. P. Lovecraft II ''H. P. Lovecraft II'' is the second album by the American psychedelic rock band H. P. Lovecraft and was released in September 1968 on Philips Records. As with their debut LP, the album saw the band blending psychedelic and folk rock influences, ...

'', which were both characterised by Edwards and Michaels' striking

vocal harmonies Vocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are simultaneously sung as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical chor ...

and by Michaels' multi-instrumental skills. H. P. Lovecraft, An interview with George Edwards
''

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'', 1991 Michaels departed from the band in September 1968 to return to his studies. Miotke graduated with honors and continued to work as a musician; singing, playing and arranging many national radio and television commercials. Biography at Oakland Lyric Opera
In 1997, he became music director at Max's Opera Cafe in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

and also worked with the cabaret group Bizou. In 2001, he issued a debut solo album, ''In Dust I Sing'', singing and playing original compositions to the

ghazal ''Ghazal'' is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry that often deals with topics of spiritual and romantic love. It may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss, or separation from the beloved, and t ...

lyrics of Francis Brabazon and Bhau Kalchuri. He also specializes in performing the standard American songbook repertoire of writers such as

Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became Standard (music), standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway the ...

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned jazz, popular music, popular and classical music. Among his best-known works are the songs "Swan ...

, and

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. In 2021, he was pianist and cantor at the Jazz and Justice Church in Oakland. "David Miotke", ''Plymouth United Church of Christ''
Retrieved March 15, 2022

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Michaels, Dave Living people 1944 births American rock keyboardists H. P. Lovecraft (band) members