David Longstreth (born December 17, 1981) is an American singer and songwriter. He is the lead singer and guitarist for the band

Dirty Projectors Dirty Projectors is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2002. The band is the project of singer-songwriter David Longstreth, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes. The b ...

Biography

Longstreth was born in

Southbury, Connecticut Southbury is a town in western New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. Southbury is north of Oxford and Newtown, and east of Brookfield. Its population was 19,879 at the 2020 census. Southbury comprises sprawling rural country areas, sub ...

. Longstreth attended

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

and majored in music shortly before dropping out halfway through his second year. He stated that "he rarely ventured out of his dorm room. He found himself completely absorbed in making his own music, though there wasn’t really anyone to play it for."Brooklyn's Sonic Boom – Why Dirty Projectors Is One of the Most Risk-Taking Groups of All Time
/ref> After dropping out, he moved in with his brother in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

and worked on his first album ''

The Graceful Fallen Mango ''The Graceful Fallen Mango'' is an album by Dave Longstreth. The album is a collection of tunes recorded in Longstreth's bedroom on a 4-track machine and in his brother's basement on a computer. Dave Longstreth plays everything on the album save ...

'', which he released in 2002. Shortly after completing the album, Longstreth returned to Yale to finish his degree and began making music under the ''Dirty Projectors'' title. He proceeded to record multiple records under the name during his time at Yale. In 2015, he contributed to "

FourFiveSeconds "FourFiveSeconds" is a song recorded by Barbadian singer Rihanna, American rapper Kanye West, and English musician Paul McCartney. It was written and produced by McCartney, Kanye West, Mike Dean, Dave Longstreth and Noah Goldstein with additiona ...

", a collaborative song by

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna auditioned for American record producer Evan Rogers who invited her to the ...

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 ...

and

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

. That same year, he composed a classical composition called "Michael Jordan". It was composed for New York group ''Ensemble LPR''. He also contributed to the orchestral

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

for the song "Time, As a Symptom" on the album ''

Divers Diver or divers may refer to: *Diving (sport), the sport of performing acrobatics while jumping or falling into water *Practitioner of underwater diving, including: **scuba diving, **freediving, **surface-supplied diving, **saturation diving, a ...

'' by American musician

Joanna Newsom Joanna Newsom (born January 18, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Born and raised in Northern California, Newsom was classically trained on the harp in her youth and began her musical career as a keyboardist in the San Francisc ...

. In 2016, he produced the album ''

Azel Azel, proper name, may refer to: *'' Azel: Panzer Dragoon RPG'', a 1998 video game *A descendant of Saul (I Chronicles 8:37; I Chronicles 9:43-44) Books of Chronicles *A variant spelling of Azal, a place name referred to in Zechariah 14:5 Book of ...

'' by Nigerian musician Bombino and collaborated on the

Solange Solange (died 10 May, c. 880) was a Frankish shepherdess and a locally venerated Christian saint and cephalophore, whose cult is restricted to Sainte-Solange, Cher. Saint Solange was the patron of the traditional Province of Berry, of which C ...

release, ''

A Seat at the Table ''A Seat at the Table'' is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Solange. It was released on September 30, 2016, by Saint Records and Columbia Records. While recording the album, Solange released an EP, titled ''True'' (2012) and ...

''. Longstreth is the younger brother of American painter, musician, and internet radio personality

Jake Longstreth John Pullman "Jake" Longstreth, Jr. (born February 3, 1977), is an American painter, musician, and internet radio personality. He is currently the co-host of the Apple Music 1 show, ''Time Crisis with Ezra Koenig'' and member of a Grateful Dead c ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Longstreth, David American rock singers American rock guitarists American male guitarists 1981 births Living people People from Southbury, Connecticut Yale School of Music alumni Dirty Projectors members Domino Recording Company artists 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American singers 21st-century American guitarists