NASHVILLE, TN (CelebrityAccess) — David Briggs, the veteran Nashville session musician and producer known for his collaborations with artists such as Neil Young, Elvis Presley, and Joan Baez, died on April 22nd. He was 82.
Briggs began his career while still a teenager in Alabama, playing his first studio gig at just 14, before going on to work with some of the biggest names in the music industry.
In 1966, he joined a recording session with Elvis Presley and would continue to record and tour with the rock legend until Presley’s death in 1977.
In the late 1960s, he partnered with Norbert Putnam to launch the Nashville-based Quadrafonic Studios and later opened the noted Music Row recording studio, House of David.
As a studio musician, Briggs contributed to recordings by artists such as Arthur Alexander, Neil Young, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, B.B. King, Dolly Parton, Kris Kristofferson, George Harrison, Roy Orbison, and many more.
As a recording artist, Briggs made records for Decca, Polydor, and Monument, and was a member of the band Area Code 615 from 1969 to 1971.
Briggs was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2019.
“David Briggs could play keyboards in any style. For more than four decades, his deft touch graced countless country, R&B, rock, and pop recordings. He was 18 years old when he played piano on Arthur Alexander’s epochal Muscle Shoals hit ‘You Better Move On.’ Recruited to Nashville by producer Owen Bradley, Briggs immediately became a studio fixture, enhancing records by Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, and many more. He further shaped Music City in co-founding Quadrafonic Studio and opening his own House of David studio. He was a man of music through and through,” stated Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
