David Bryan Rashbaum, best known as just David Bryan, is the keyboard player of
the popular American rock band Bon Jovi, with which he has also co-written songs
and performed backing vocals. He is the writer of the successful Broadway
musical Memphis. Early life
David Bryan Rashbaum was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey and raised in Edison,
New Jersey. His father, Eddie Rashbaum, played the trumpet. Bryan was raised
Jewish. He attended elementary school at Clara Barton, where he played many
instruments including violin, viola, trumpet and clarinet. Also attended
Herbert Hoover Middle School, then J. P. Stevens High School, from which he
graduated. Bryan began to learn piano at age seven, and played keyboards for a
band called Transition with bass player Steve Sileo. He studied with Emery Hack,
a professor at Juilliard, for thirteen years. Bryan was accepted into Rutgers
University, but dropped out to attend Juilliard, a school devoted to the
performing arts in New York City. With Bon Jovi
Bryan was the first to receive a call when Jon Bon Jovi learned that he had
received a recording contract, and agreed to join the band. He shortened
his full name to his first and middle names. At the time Bryan was attending
Rutgers University and was studying Pre-Med with a 4.0 GPA. Bryan has played
keyboards and sung on all of Bon Jovi's albums, as well as the solo projects of
Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora. Bryan co-wrote the songs "Breakout" and "Love
Lies" on Bon Jovi's self-titled first album, "Only Lonely"; "The Hardest Part
Is the Night" and "(I Don't Wanna Fall) To the fire" on 7800° Fahrenheit; the
hit "In These Arms" on Keep The Faith; and "Last Cigarette" on Have A Nice Day
Musical theater He co-wrote the musical Memphis with Joe
DiPietro, which had its off-Broadway debut in 2002. In 2008, Memphis was
performed at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego. The show was also performed
in January 2009 in Seattle, Washington, at the 5th Avenue Theatre, prior to
moving to Broadway later in 2009. Memphis, which is now on broadway since
October 18, 2009, was nominated for 8 Tony awards for the 2010 season and won
4 including Best Musical and Best original musical score. Memphis is now
the most nominated show on Broadway, winning multiple Drama Desk awards and
Outer Critics Circle awards, including Best Musical, Best Composer, and Best
Orchestrations. Memphis The Musical went on to win four Tony awards at the 2010
Tonys, including Best Musical, Best Composer, Best Book, and Best
orchestrations. Bryan also co-wrote the musical The
Toxic Avenger, again collaborating with Joe DiPietro. The musical made its
off-Broadway premiere at New World Stages on April 6, 2009.
He is also working on a new musical with DiPietro titled Chasing The Song, which
chronicles American song writers from 1962–1964 who worked in the Brill
Building. Bryan describes it as "It's a fictional story about factual America."
Director Christopher Ashley and choreographer Sergio Trujillo are now
involved. According to Playbill, "A fall or early winter workshop of the musical
is currently being planned. Broadway is the goal."
Personal life Bryan married his high school sweetheart
April McLean on August 25, 1990, but they divorced in 2004. They have three
children: twins Gabrielle Luna and Colton Moon, and Tyger Lily. Gabrielle
and Colton recently had Bat and Bar Mitzvahs, respectively. Jon Bon Jovi and
Michael Strahan were there to help celebrate the B'nai Mitzvah. David
married Lexi Quaas on August 7, 2010 in Colts Neck, New Jersey.
In the late 1990s, prior to Bon Jovi coming together to record Crush, Bryan
nearly severed his finger in a home accident involving a circular saw. After
a year of rehabilitation and therapy, Bryan regained motion in his finger and
went back to playing the keyboard. In 1991, before he helped Bon Jovi
guitarist and friend Richie Sambora in his solo album Stranger in This Town and
record a soundtrack in the horror movie "The Netherworld", Bryan was suffering
from a South American parasite, caught during a tour with the band. Bryan was
hospitalized. He described the pain as " It ate out my stomach lining, my
intestines, and attacked my nerve endings. It was in my bloodstream; I was
poisoned. I was 145 pounds, and I was really ill in the hospital for two
weeks... then bedridden at home, for a month". He recovered and, in 1992, he
and the band did "Keep The Faith" showing that the band is still together
since "New Jersey". Charity work
Bryan is very active in VH-1's Save the Music program, as well as Only Make
Believe. He also wrote the anthem for Only Make Believe, "Rockin' All Over the
World", with Dena Hammerstein. He is an honorary Board member for Only Make
Believe, a non-profit organization that brings interactive theatre to
chronically ill and disabled children in hospitals and care facilities. He is
also a board member of Damon Marks' Traveling Guitar Foundation.
The band has built several homes for victims of Hurricane Katrina. The video
for the hit song "Who Says You Can't Go Home" is a documentary of the making of
these homes. The band also gave Oprah Winfrey's Angel Network one million
dollars. With this, she created Bon Jovi Boulevard in Louisiana. Bon Jovi was
welcomed back, one year later, to see Bon Jovi Boulevard, and to unveil it to
its future residents Discography
= Solo = On a Full Moon
Lunar Eclipse = With Bon Jovi =
= Contributions = Stranger in This Town
Netherworld Soundtrack – Original Score "Time Was" – Curtis Stigers – wrote
"This Time" Destination Anywhere
Further reading Larkin, Colin. The Guinness Encyclopedia
of Popular Music, Guinness Publishing, 1992.
References External links
Official website