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 punk movement and helped launch the psychedelic subculture. Named after lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), the style is generally defined by heavy, d ...

band H. P. Lovecraft. Born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Miotke studied at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

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, '' H. P. Lovecraft'' 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 influence ...

'', 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 chora ...

and by Michaels' multi-instrumental skills. H. P. Lovecraft, An interview with George Edwards
'' Ptolemaic Terrascope'', 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 (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

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 lyrics of

Francis Brabazon Francis Brabazon (24 January 1907 – 24 June 1984) was an Australian Poetry, poet and a member of Meher Baba's Mandali (Meher Baba), mandali. Brabazon was born in London, but moved to Australia with his family when he was still a boy. At the ...

and Bhau Kalchuri. He also specializes in performing the standard American songbook repertoire of writers such as Cole Porter,

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

, and

Rodgers and Hart Rodgers and Hart were an American songwriting partnership between composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and the lyricist Lorenz Hart (1895–1943). They worked together on 28 stage musicals and more than 500 songs from 1919 until Hart' ...

. 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