Dave Lawson (musician)

Dave Lawson (born David C. Lawson, 25 April 1945 in Alton, Hampshire, England) is an English keyboardist and contemporary composer who in the 1970s was a member of UK progressive rock band Greenslade.

Biography

Early years and Greenslade

During the 1970s Lawson was a member of Greenslade, an English progressive rock band which formed in the autumn of 1972. They made their live debut at Frankfurt's Zoom Club in November 1972, with a line-up of Dave Greenslade (keyboards), Tony Reeves (bass guitar and double bass), Andrew McCulloch (drums and percussion) and Lawson (keyboards and vocals).

The band recorded four studio albums:
* 1973: ''Greenslade''
* 1973: '' Bedside Manners Are Extra''
* 1974: '' Spyglass Guest'' – UK No. 34
* 1975: '' Time and Tide''

In the band Lawson largely shared composition with Dave Greenslade, generally writing the lyrics for Greenslade's music, but also contributing music of his own. In contrast to Dave Greenslade's preference for Hammond organ, mellotron and piano, Lawson proved to be a pioneer of analogue synthesizers.Romano, W. 2010, ''Mountains Come Out of the Sky: The Illustrated History of Prog Rock'', Backbeat Books,

The band announced their disbandment in early 1976, due to management problems, and Lawson then worked as a session musician before touring with Roy Harper and later Stackridge, for which band he appeared on the 1976 album '' Mr. Mick''. In the late 1970's he played mellotron on a BBC live broadcast of David Bedford's ''Instructions for Angels''. He was invited to join the band of Ian Gillan who had recently left Deep Purple but had to decline. He also recorded with Chris Squire and Alan White, who were taking a break from the band Yes, alongside Jimmy Page in a project titled XYZ. Lawson also played with Curved Air and in 1982, whilst recording with Bill Wyman, was invited to play with Foreigner.

Later years

Lawson played on the soundtrack of the film ''The Man Who Fell to Earth'' (1976) and later played with John Williams and the LSO for the films '' Star Wars'' (1977), '' Superman'' (1978) and '' The Fury'' (1978). In ''Star Wars'' Lawson can be heard playing the ARP 2600 to conjure the sounds of an electric tuba in the famous Tatooine cantina scene. He was a session musician for Peggy Lee, Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. Lawson has worked as music associate, performer and programmer with such Hollywood film composers such as George Fenton, John Williams and Trevor Jones. He has also composed for a number of successful feature films and television programs.

He has become particularly noted for his work on so-called "fusion scores" such as those for the feature films ''Angel Heart'' and '' Mississippi Burning''. He also worked on Steven Spielberg's ''We're Back!'' and on Kenneth Branagh's '' Mary Shelley's Frankenstein'', each of which won Golden Reel Awards from the Association of Motion Picture Sound Editors.

In 1988–89, he composed the theme music for the BBC
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