D.A. Wallach (also known as D.A.) is an American musician and business executive. He is the former lead singer of the group
Chester French
Chester French was an American indie pop band consisting of lead vocalist and songwriter David-Andrew 'D.A.' Wallach and multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Maxwell Drummey. They met as college students at Harvard University, naming their band ...
and is currently a solo artist signed by
Harvest Records
Harvest Records is a British-American record label belonging to Capitol Music Group, originally created by EMI in 1969.
History
Harvest Records was created by EMI in 1969 to market progressive rock music, and to compete with Philips' Vertigo ...
, a subsidiary of
Capitol Records
Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...
.
He is the former
artist-in-residence
Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...
at
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...
, a company where he was an early investor. As a business executive, he has invested in and advised several companies that have included
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...
,
Emulate
Emulate, Inc. (Emulate) is a biotechnology company that commercialized Organs-on-Chips technology—a human cell-based technology that recreates organ-level function to model organs in healthy and diseased states. The technology has applications ...
, Synthego, Beam Therapeutics, Glympse Bio, Ligandal, and
Ripple
Ripple may refer to:
Science and technology
* Capillary wave, commonly known as ripple, a wave traveling along the phase boundary of a fluid
** Ripple, more generally a disturbance, for example of spacetime in gravitational waves
* Ripple (electri ...
.
Early life and education
He was born David-Andrew Wallach in Denver, Colorado,
and moved to
Appleton, Wisconsin
Appleton ( mez, Ahkōnemeh)
is a city in Outagamie, Calumet, and Winnebago counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. One of the Fox Cities, it is situated on the Fox River, southwest of Green Bay and north of Milwaukee. Appleton is the c ...
, before he was two years old.
He attended the
University School of Milwaukee
The University School of Milwaukee (often abbreviated to USM) is an independent pre-kindergarten through secondary preparatory school in River Hills and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was founded as the result of the merger of three schools, Milwauk ...
, where he was a two-time national finalist in the
Federal Reserve's Fed Challenge monetary policy competition.
Wallach went on to attend
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
.
During his time at Harvard, he studied
African-American studies under
Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker, who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African Ame ...
and graduated in 2007,
receiving both the
Alain Locke Prize for the most outstanding scholar in African-American Studies and the Andrew Ramroop prize. He received Harvard's first certificate in the Bantu language
Gikuyu. While at Harvard, he auditioned against future Academy Award-winning director
Damien Chazelle
Damien Sayre Chazelle (; born January 19, 1985) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He is known for his films ''Whiplash'' (2014), ''La La Land'' (2016), and '' First Man'' (2018).
For ''Whiplash'', he was nominated for the ...
for the role of drummer in future Academy Award-winning composer
Justin Hurwitz
Justin Gabriel Hurwitz (born January 22, 1985) is an American film composer and a television writer. He is best known for his longtime collaboration with director Damien Chazelle, scoring each of his films: ''Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench'' (2 ...
's band; Chazelle won and Wallach became the lead singer.
Career
Early career and Chester French
He was initially discovered by
Kanye West
Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer.
Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...
,
Jermaine Dupri
Jermaine Dupri Mauldin (born September 23, 1972) is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, record executive, entrepreneur, and DJ.
Early life
Jermaine Dupri Mauldin was born on September 23, 1972, the son of Tina (Mosley) and Michael ...
and
Pharrell Williams
Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he ...
while he was attending Harvard and leading the band
Chester French
Chester French was an American indie pop band consisting of lead vocalist and songwriter David-Andrew 'D.A.' Wallach and multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Maxwell Drummey. They met as college students at Harvard University, naming their band ...
.
Wallach's music style of classic pop has been compared to musicians such as
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
and
the Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...
.
Wallach co-founded the group Chester French in 2003 with Harvard schoolmate Maxwell Drummey. Wallach worked as a recording engineer in Harvard's student recording studio, engineering and producing for Boston-area jazz musicians and working on Chester French's debut album at night. In 2007, Wallach sent out hundreds of demo CDs which led to a bidding war between West, Dupri, and Williams. Just prior to Wallach's graduating from Harvard, Williams signed the group to his
Star Trak Entertainment
Star Trak was an American record label, founded by The Neptunes and Rob Walker in 2001. It operated as a division of Interscope Geffen A&M, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Its name is a reference to the 1960s TV program ''Star Trek''.
H ...
label, a partnership with
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...
.
The group was known for being one of the first bands to use
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
as a promotional tool to interact with fans,
being freshmen at Harvard the same year that the site was launched by
Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (; born ) is an American business magnate, internet entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is known for co-founding the social media website Facebook and its parent company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook, Inc.), o ...
.
He was also an early adopter of Twitter with over one million followers.
During his time with Chester French, Wallach toured with bands such as
N*E*R*D
N.E.R.D. (stylized as N⋆E⋆R⋆D and N.E.R.D, a backronym of No-one Ever Really Dies) is an American hip hop and rock band, formed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1999. Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo were signed by Teddy Riley to Virgin Reco ...
,
Blink-182
Blink-182 (stylized as blink-182) is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Poway, California in 1992. Their current lineup consists of bassist/vocalist Mark Hoppus, guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge, and drummer Travis Barker. Though their ...
, and
Weezer
Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Patrick Wilson (drums, backing vocals), Scott Shriner (bass guitar, keyboards, backing v ...
. The group's first album included the single "
She Loves Everybody" which reached #1 on
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales and #2 on
U.S. Billboard Hot Singles Sales.
Chester French released two albums under the Star Trak record label, leaving in 2010 to release its third album independently. The third album featured collaborations with Williams,
Pusha T
Terrence LeVarr Thornton (born May 13, 1977), better known by his stage name Pusha T, is an American rapper, songwriter and record executive. He rose to prominence as one-half of the hip hop duo Clipse, which was mainly active from 1994 to 20 ...
, and
Travis Barker
Travis Landon Barker (born November 14, 1975) is an American musician who serves as the drummer for the rock band Blink-182. He has also performed as a frequent collaborator with hip hop artists, is a member of the rap rock group Transpla ...
.
Solo career, collaborations, and film
![Chesterfrenchattherave](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Chesterfrenchattherave.jpg)
Outside of Chester French, Wallach has worked with
Supa Dups
Dwayne Chin-Quee, better known as Supa Dups, is a Jamaican record producer, a drummer, and selector based in Miami, Florida. He is a member of the Black Chiney sound system. His father is a second generation Chinese Jamaican, and his mother ...
, forming the group D.A. & the Supa Dups. They collaborated in 2011 and released two singles, "Who Do You Know" and "Too Cool" (feat.
Vybz Kartel
Adidja Azim Palmer (born 7 January 1976), better known as Vybz Kartel, is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall recording artist, composer, record producer, and entrepreneur. Among his various nicknames, he is referred to as "Worl' Boss". As summarize ...
). Wallach originally met Supa Dups while he was doing studio work in Los Angeles.
He also wrote and sang the hook for the song "Play Your Part" with
Rick Ross
William Leonard Roberts II (born January 28, 1976), known professionally as Rick Ross, is an American rapper.
Prior to releasing his debut single, "Hustlin'", in 2006, Ross was the subject of a bidding war, receiving offers from Sean Combs, D ...
,
Wale, and
Meek Mill
Robert Rihmeek Williams (born May 6, 1987), known professionally as Meek Mill, is an American rapper. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he embarked on his music career as a battle rapper, and later formed a short-lived rap group, ...
in 2011.
The song was a single on the first Maybach Music album, and Wallach also appeared in the 2011 music video for the song.
He appeared in the 2012 film ''
Artifact'' produced by
Jared Leto
Jared Joseph Leto ( ; born December 26, 1971) is an American actor and musician. Known for his method acting in a variety of roles, he has received numerous accolades over a career spanning three decades, including an Academy Award and a Golde ...
. The film was a documentary about Leto's band
Thirty Seconds to Mars
Thirty Seconds to Mars (commonly stylized as 30 Seconds to Mars) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1998. The band consists of brothers Jared Leto (lead vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards) and Shannon Leto (drums, pe ...
, its lawsuit against
Virgin EMI Records
Virgin EMI Records was a British record label owned by the Universal Music Group that was formed in 2013. In June 2020, the label was rebranded as EMI Records, and operates Virgin Records as an imprint of the new EMI Records.
History
Virgin ...
, and the making of the album ''
This Is War
''This Is War'' is the third studio album by American rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars, released on December 8, 2009 through Virgin Records. It was the band's first studio album in four years, after the breakthrough of their previous work, ''A ...
''. Wallach also worked with Pharrell Williams to co-write the song "The Way It Is (Vector's Theme)", a song from the
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
for the 2010 film ''
Despicable Me
''Despicable Me'' is a computer-animated media franchise centering on Gru, a reformed super-villain (who later becomes a father, husband, and secret agent), and his yellow-colored Minions. It is produced by Illumination and distributed by ...
''.
In 2013, Wallach began writing and recording music as a solo artist. He played his music for
Odd Future
Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, better known as Odd Future and often abbreviated as OF, was an American Hip hop music, hip-hop Musical collective, music collective formed in Los Angeles County, California in 2007. The original members were Ty ...
and
Frank Ocean
Christopher Francis "Frank" Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux; October 28, 1987), is an American singer, songwriter, and rapper. His works are noted by music critics for featuring avant-garde styles and introspective, elliptical lyrics. Ocean ...
's manager Chris Clancy, who then partnered with Harvest Records to release Wallach's solo project. He released his first single, titled "Glowing", in October 2013, which debuted in a music video directed by
Tyler, the Creator
Tyler Gregory Okonma (born March 6, 1991), known professionally as Tyler, the Creator, is an American rapper and record producer. He is one of the founding members of the music collective Odd Future.
Okonma self-released his debut mixtape Bast ...
.
The video was originally released "anonymously" before Wallach came out as the singer of the song in an interview with MTV, who called it a "Beatles-esque love song."
When asked why he released the video anonymously, Wallach stated that he just wanted people to enjoy the song.
Wallach followed up with his second solo release, "Farm", in November 2013.
In 2016, Wallach had a small role in the musical film ''
La La Land
''La La Land'' is a 2016 American romantic musical comedy-drama film written and directed by Damien Chazelle. It stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a struggling jazz pianist and an aspiring actress, respectively, who meet and fall in love ...
'', working with former Harvard classmates and bandmates
Damien Chazelle
Damien Sayre Chazelle (; born January 19, 1985) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He is known for his films ''Whiplash'' (2014), ''La La Land'' (2016), and '' First Man'' (2018).
For ''Whiplash'', he was nominated for the ...
and
Justin Hurwitz
Justin Gabriel Hurwitz (born January 22, 1985) is an American film composer and a television writer. He is best known for his longtime collaboration with director Damien Chazelle, scoring each of his films: ''Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench'' (2 ...
.
Business career
In 2011, Wallach was selected by
Sean Parker
Sean Parker (born December 3, 1979) is an American entrepreneur and philanthropist, most notable for co-founding the file-sharing computer service Napster, and serving as the first president of the social networking website Facebook. He also ...
, Shakil Khan, and
Daniel Ek
Daniel Ek (born 21 February 1983) is a Swedish billionaire entrepreneur and technologist. He is the co-founder and CEO of music streaming service Spotify.
Early life and education
Ek grew up in the Rågsved district of Stockholm, Sweden. He gra ...
to be the official
artist-in-residence
Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...
for Spotify. In that capacity, he created and led the Artist Services team, which oversaw the company's relationships with musicians and managers, discussing how the service works, its payment model, and promotions.
He has also driven different products for the company including its Artist Analytics dashboard and its merchandise and ticketing products.
He has advocated publicly for subscription music services to be embraced by both artists and the music industry.
Spotify's subscribers grew from one million to 20 million prior to him leaving the company in 2015.
Wallach has invested in and advised technology companies that have included
Fancy
Fancy may refer to:
Places
* Fancy, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, a settlement
* Fancy River, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Music Albums
* ''Fancy'' (Bobbie Gentry album), 1970
* ''Fancy'' (Idiot Flesh album), 1997
* ''Fancy'' (video ...
, digital currency network
Ripple
Ripple may refer to:
Science and technology
* Capillary wave, commonly known as ripple, a wave traveling along the phase boundary of a fluid
** Ripple, more generally a disturbance, for example of spacetime in gravitational waves
* Ripple (electri ...
, and telemedicine innovator Doctor On Demand. Wallach partnered with billionaire
Ron Burkle
Ronald Wayne Burkle (born November 12, 1952) is an American businessman. He is the co-founder and managing partner of The Yucaipa Companies, LLC, a private investment firm that specializes in U.S. companies in the distribution, logistics, food, ...
in 2016 to form Inevitable Venture, a venture fund based in Los Angeles. He initially met Burkle at a Grammy party and helped him invest in Spotify.
Other investments by Wallach have included
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...
and
Emulate
Emulate, Inc. (Emulate) is a biotechnology company that commercialized Organs-on-Chips technology—a human cell-based technology that recreates organ-level function to model organs in healthy and diseased states. The technology has applications ...
.
Discography
Studio albums
Singles
Collaborations
For discography of Wallach as lead vocalist of Chester French, see main article on
Chester French
Chester French was an American indie pop band consisting of lead vocalist and songwriter David-Andrew 'D.A.' Wallach and multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Maxwell Drummey. They met as college students at Harvard University, naming their band ...
.
Filmography
Awards and recognition
Wallach made
''Forbes''' list of 30 Under 30 in music in 2011.
He was also named one of the ''100 Most Creative People in Business'' by
Fast Company
''Fast Company'' is a monthly American business magazine published in print and online that focuses on technology, business, and design. It publishes six print issues per year.
History
''Fast Company'' was launched in November 1995 by Alan Web ...
in 2013.
References
External links
D.A. Official WebsiteD.A. News Articles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallach, D.A.
1985 births
Living people
American male musicians
American male pop singers
Harvest Records artists
Harvard University alumni
University School of Milwaukee alumni