David Rivkin (born 1953), professionally known as David Z, is an American music producer, engineer, and songwriter from

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. He is best known for his long-standing work with

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

and has contributed to albums by

Etta James Jamesetta Hawkins (January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012), known professionally as Etta James, was an American singer and songwriter. Starting her career in 1954, James frequently performed in Nashville's R&B clubs, collectively known as the Ch ...

Billy Idol William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), known professionally as Billy Idol, is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Idol achieved fame in the 1970s on the London punk rock scene as the lead singer of Generation X ...

BoDeans BoDeans is an American rock band formed in Waukesha, Wisconsin who came to prominence in the 1980s. The band's sound encompasses multiple rock genres, including roots rock, heartland rock, and alternative rock. The band's biggest hit to dat ...

Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaug ...

, and

Neneh Cherry Neneh Mariann Karlsson (; born 10 March 1964), better known as Neneh Cherry, is a Swedish singer, songwriter, rapper, occasional disc jockey, and broadcaster. Her musical career started in London in the early 1980s, where she performed in a numb ...

. Rivkin was a member of

Lipps Inc Lipps may refer to: * Lipps, Virginia * Lipps Island * Lipps Inc Lipps is the surname of: * Jere H. Lipps * Louis Lipps * Theodor Lipps Theodor Lipps (; 28 July 1851 – 17 October 1914) was a German philosopher, known for his theory regardi ...

, with whom he had a US #1 and UK #2 hit with "

Funkytown "Funkytown" is a song by American disco-funk group Lipps Inc., written and produced by Steven Greenberg and released by Casablanca Records in March 1980 as the second single from the group's debut studio album, '' Mouth to Mouth'' (1979). T ...

" (1980). He produced

Fine Young Cannibals Fine Young Cannibals (FYC) are an English pop rock band formed in Birmingham, West Midlands, in 1984 by former The Beat band bassist David Steele and guitarist Andy Cox with singer Roland Gift (formerly of the Akrylykz). Their self-titled ...

' "

She Drives Me Crazy "She Drives Me Crazy" is a song by British group Fine Young Cannibals, released in 1988 by London Records as the first single from their second and final album, '' The Raw & the Cooked'' (1989). The song was written by the group's frontman Ro ...

" (1988), creating the song's signature snare drum sound. As of 2021, Rivkin is based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Personal life

David Rivkin is the eldest of three brothers; they all work in media entertainment. His youngest brother Bobby Z. was the original drummer in Prince's band The Revolution whilst his middle brother Stephen E. Rivkin is notable for his work as a

film editor Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film stock, film which increasingly involves the use Digital cinema, of digital ...

, particularly as editor of the ''

Pirates Of The Caribbean ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' is a Disney media franchise encompassing numerous theme park rides, a series of films, and spin-off novels, as well as a number of related video games and other media publications. The franchise originated with Wa ...

'' trilogy of films and ''

Avatar Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...

''.Twin Cities Music Highlights: The Rivkin Brothers

Early work

After spending much of his teenage years in a variety of local

rock'n'roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African American music such as jazz, rhythm and ...

bands around Minneapolis, David Z spent time between Minneapolis and Los Angeles throughout the early 1970s songwriting and engineering. His early work is perhaps most known over this period in his writing contributions for

Gram Parsons Ingram Cecil Connor III (November 5, 1946 – September 19, 1973), known professionally as Gram Parsons, was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pianist. He recorded with the International Submarine Band, the Byrds, and the Flying Bu ...

' first solo LP '' GP'', particularly the track 'How Much I've Lied', before going on to play a major role in establishing not only the

Minneapolis sound The Minneapolis sound is a subgenre of funk rock that incorporates elements of New wave music, new wave and synth-pop. Started at Sound 80 with tracks like “Funkytown” by Lipps, Inc and pioneered by Minneapolis-based musician Prince (musicia ...

but through his innovative use of

drum machines A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...

, loops, and samples much of production aesthetic now synonymous with music from the 1980s. Many musical collaborations were produced by David Z at

Paisley Park Paisley Park is a 65,000 square foot estate in Chanhassen, Minnesota, United States, once owned by American musician Prince. It was opened to the public as a museum in October 2016. History Construction of the $10 million complex began in Jan ...

throughout the late 1980s and 1990s.

Prince

During the mid-1970s, David Z encountered Prince playing around the Minneapolis scene. The pair recorded a set of demos with Z engineering which ultimately led to Prince signing a recording deal with

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

. Although much of the detail of David Z's exact contributions to Prince's albums is lost in the myth surrounding Prince and his prolific writing and recording, it is clear that his input, recording technique and production are intertwined intrinsically into those recordings. His most well documented contributions to Prince's folio of work are his writing, production and engineering on 1986 hit "

Kiss A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sex ...

" - originally a song given to the band

Mazarati Mazarati was an American R&B, rock and funk band, formed in the mid-1980s and was active until 1989. The band had seven members and was produced by the former Prince (musician), Prince and The Revolution (band), The Revolution bassist Brownmar ...

by Prince for their debut album which David Z was producing-and his recording and engineering of '' Purple Rain''.

Soundtrack work

David Z continues to work successfully in the field of film

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

s and scoring. Aside from his early work with Prince on ''Purple Rain'' and '' Under The Cherry Moon'', David Z's work can be heard on the 1996

John Travolta John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He began acting in television before transitioning into a leading man in films. List of awards and nominations received by John Travolta, His accolades include a Primetime Em ...

film ''

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'' directed by

Nora Ephron Nora Ephron ( ; May 19, 1941 – June 26, 2012) was an American journalist, writer, and filmmaker. She is best known for writing and directing romantic comedy films and received numerous accolades including a British Academy Film Award as ...

, where he produced songs by

Al Green Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), known professionally as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer. He is best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including " Tired of ...

and

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Kenny Wayne Shepherd (born Kenneth Wayne Brobst; June 12, 1977) is an American guitarist. He has released several studio albums and experienced significant commercial success as a blues rock artist. Early life Shepherd was born in Shrevepo ...

. His songs with

Tevin Campbell Tevin Jermod Campbell (born November 12, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. He performed gospel in his local church from an early age. Following an audition for jazz musician Bobbi Humphrey in 1988, Campbell was signed to War ...

"Stand Out" and "I 2 I" are featured in

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

's film ''

A Goofy Movie ''A Goofy Movie'' is a 1995 American animated musical comedy-adventure film produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. Directed by Kevin Lima, it is based on The Disney Afternoon television series ''Goof Troop'' (1992) created by Robert T ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Z., David Living people Musicians from Minneapolis Record producers from Minnesota 1953 births Prince associates