David Buskin (born December 13, 1943 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

) is a singer, songwriter, performer, author, playwright, jingle composer and girls' basketball coach. He is well known for composing numerous television and radio commercials produced in the 1980s and 1990s. He won a Clio Award in 1983 for ''Just Watch Us Now,''

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

's signature jingle.

Biography

Buskin grew up in New York City. He graduated from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

in 1965 in the middle of the folk music era. After Brown, he attended

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

Boston, MA Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

where he began to write his own brand of folk-rock songs. His brother is the writer John Buskin.

Composer

After selling five songs to

Mary Travers Mary Allin Travers (November 9, 1936 – September 16, 2009) was an American singer-songwriter who was known for being in the famous 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, along with Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey. Travers grew up amid the burg ...

for her album, ''Morning Glory'', Buskin toured with her for several years as her opening act and they became lifelong friends. Some of the other artists who have recorded his songs include:

Astrud Gilberto Astrud Gilberto (; born Astrud Evangelina Weinert, March 29, 1940) is a Brazilian samba and bossa nova singer. She gained international attention in the 1960s following her recording of the song "The Girl from Ipanema". Biography Astrud Gilbert ...

Judy Collins Judith Marjorie Collins (born May 1, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and musician with a career spanning seven decades. An Academy Award-nominated documentary director and a Grammy Award-winning recording artist, she is known for her ec ...

Peter, Paul & Mary Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's reperto ...

Johnny Mathis John Royce Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standard music, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum s ...

Shirley Bassey Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer. Best known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the theme songs to three James Bond films, Bassey is widely regarded as one of the most popular vocalists ...

Tom Rush Thomas Walker Rush (born February 8, 1941) is an American folk and blues singer, guitarist and songwriter who helped launch the careers of other singer-songwriters in the 1960s and has continued his own singing career for 60 years. Life and ...

Roberta Flack Roberta Cleopatra Flack (born February 10, 1937) is a retired American singer. She topped the Billboard Magazine, ''Billboard'' charts with the No. 1 singles "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", "Killing Me Softly with His Song", "Feel Like M ...

Dixie Carter Dixie Virginia Carter (May 25, 1939 – April 10, 2010) was an American actress. She starred as Julia Sugarbaker on the sitcom ''Designing Women'' (1986–1993) and as Randi King on the drama series ''Family Law (American TV series), Family La ...

, and Tracy Nelson. In addition to his folk-rock music, Buskin has written numerous advertising jingles. Among others, Buskin wrote the jingle for NBC for which he won a Clio Award in 1983. He co-wrote ''All Aboard America'' for

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

, and did work for

Burger King Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based res ...

JC Penney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...

, and the

US Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...

. He also helped create the children's show ''Generation O'' that was seen on the WB Kid's Network. He is currently working on a play to be directed by

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

winner and fellow Brown graduate,

James Naughton James Naughton (born December 6, 1945) is an American actor and director. He is best known as Michael Bower on '' Who's the Boss?'' (1984-1992) and was also notable for his earlier role as the astronaut Pete Burke in the 1974 single-season telev ...

. Together with Janet Fox and Susan Hamilton he wrote a song "Every time a good time" for McDonald's (published by TUTTAPANNA MUSIC).

Performer

Buskin signed his first recording contract with

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

in the early 1970s. He recorded two albums in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

and later toured with the rock group ''Pierce Arrow'', recording two albums for

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. Here he met

Robin Batteau Robin Batteau (born January 12, 1948) is an American composer, singer-songwriter, and music producer. Batteau is the brother of singer/songwriter David Batteau. He attended Phillips Academy in Andover and should have graduated from Harvard Uni ...

, and the two decided to become a duo. David played guitar and piano; Robin guitar, mandolin, and electric violin. The partnership lasted until 1990. ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''has described the duo as "an irresistible amalgam of melodic, sensual pop, folkie grit and killer wit." They appeared together, composing and performing throughout

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

in various clubs, including The Bottom Line. David performs with his partners, Rob Carlson and George Wurzbach in the group "Modern Man – filling the void between

The Three Tenors The Three Tenors were an operatic singing trio, active during the 1990s and early 2000s, and termed as a supergroup (a title normally reserved for rock and pop groups) consisting of Italian Luciano Pavarotti and Spaniards Plácido Domingo and ...

and

The Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeared ...

." "With the release of their third CD, "Assisted Living," the somewhat musical group known as Modern Man continued its assault on the out-moded idea that only those persons not yet manifesting symptoms of Alzheimer's should perform in public." From 2005 to 2014, Buskin rejoined his former partner,

and percussionist Marshal Rosenberg. They created a new CD and toured as "Folk du Soleil." In April, 2014, Robin announced his retirement from performing, but reunited with Buskin starting in 201

From 2014 to 2015, David performed with his partners in "Modern Man," with a final concert in October, 201

http://modernman3.com/mm3.html]

Personal life

Buskin resides in Katonah, New York. He is married to Jan Petrow. He has one daughter from a previous marriage, Sophie, who is also a performer.

Awards

Buskin received the Clio award in 1983. Buskin is the recipient of the "Kate Wolf Award" from the

World Folk Music Association The World Folk Music Association is a non-profit organization formed in 1983 by folk singer/songwriter Tom Paxton and Dick Cerri, a radio host from Washington D. C. The first chairman of the board was Paxton and Cerri served as president. Paxton a ...

in 1999. In 2002 Modern Man was awarded Backstage's "Bistro Award" for Best Musical."Bistro Award
/ref>

Discography

* ''David Buskin'' (Self-titled) 1972 * ''He Used to Treat Her'' by David Buskin 1973 * ''The Winter Comes/When I Need You Most Of All'' by David Buskin * ''Two on One'' by David Buskin and Robin Batteau 1990 * ''Buskin and Batteau'' by David Buskin and Robin Batteau * ''Heaven Is Free Tonight'' by Dave Buskin 1993 * ''A Folksinger Earns Every Dime'' by David Buskin * ''On a Winter's Night'' with Judy Collins * ''New Year Live at Symphony Hall'' by Tom Rush, Fritz Richmond, David Buskin, Robin Batteau and Trevor Veitch * ''Wealthy Man: Live at The Bottom Line, NYC'' by David Buskin & Friends * ''Big League Babe - The Christine Lavin Tribute Album Part 2'' by Hugh Blumenfeld, David Buskin, Robin Batteau, Patty Larkin, Sally Fingerett 1998 * ''The Wide Album: Modern Man'' by David Buskin, Rob Carlson and George Wurzbach, 1999 * ''Modern imMaturity'' by David Buskin, Rob Carlson and George Wurzbach * ''David Buskin Goes Out On A Limb'' by David Buskin 2005 * ''B&B3'' by David Buskin and Robin Batteau 2006 * ''Assisted Living'' by David Buskin, Rob Carlson and George Wurzbach 2007 * ''Red Shoes and Golden Hearts'' by David Buskin and Robin Batteau 2009

References

External links

Brown University

Modern Man

World Folk Music Association

"David Buskin Is Having It His Way" By Jill Schensul The Bergen Record, 09-12-1992.

The Wide Album, Modern Man.

Clio Awards

Buskin and Batteau website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Buskin, David 1943 births Brown University alumni American male composers 21st-century American composers Jingle writers Living people Musicians from New York City Jingle composers 21st-century American male musicians