Dave Bainbridge

Born in Darlington in the north east of England, and from a musical family, Dave began piano lessons at the age of 8 and guitar lessons from his dad at 13.



Dave studied for 3 years at Leeds College of Music, gaining two performance awards - The Sam Hood Rosebowl for Outstanding Performance and The BBC Radio 2 Best Jazz Soloist Award (for piano). At college he also developed a deep interest in recording and synthesisers, particularly through work with college bands 'The Leeds Synthonia' and the 'Hyperspace Rock Orchestra'.



After college Dave played in various jazz-rock, classical-rock, soul & blues bands throughout the '80's (including extensive work with singer-songwriter Adrian Snell, and also work with Snake Davis, Gary Boyle, Jack Bruce and even Gloria Gaynor (of 'I will Survive' fame!) and did a lot of session work, producing and writing music for advertising companies etc. Then in 1989 he formed IONA with David Fitzgerald. Dave currently plays live with IONA and also IONA drummer / violinist Frank van Essen's band DEW.



Dave’s first solo album ‘Veil of Gossamer‘, released on the ‘Open Sky’ label in June 2004 received much critical acclaim, as have his two duo albums with Troy Donockley (‘From Silence’ and ‘When Worlds Collide’) and his collaboration with David Fitzgerald ('The Eye of the Eagle').



'Wilfred' by Duchy Parade Films, music by Dave:



Dave is in demand as a producer (producing numerous albums in various genres, including all nine IONA albums) and increasingly is writing music for film (including ‘Wilfred’ - award winning short cinema film featuring Derek Jacobi and Edward Fox reading the poems of Wilfred Owen; 'The Lost Princess' (short silent movie based on fictional account of the last days of Princess Anastasia of Russia - premiered at the National Media Museum in Bradford); 'Cinema' (Virgin Short Film competition entry), ‘The Last Coiner’ (currently developing music for this feature film). Dave is also currently involved in a 2 year video jukebox project, writing music for 16 short films for Nestle's iMax surround sound cinema.



Dave’s music has been heard on many TV programmes, including Timewatch (BBC2) - Battle of the River Plate, Timewatch (BBC2) - Hadrian’s Wall, Snowdonia - Realm of the Ravens (Natural World Series’ - BBC2), World in Action theme tune re-arranged - Granada TV, Northern Lights - Feature on artist JMW Turner (BBC North), Songs of Praise (BBC1), Island Soldiers (ITV) and on many other TV programmes on BBC1 / BBC2 / ITV / MTV / Channel 4 / Channel 5 / S4C /  US Cable / Family Channel / Channel 7 Sports (Australia).



Dave has recently co-written and orchestrated a 24 minute long, 4 movement guitar concerto 'Iberian Fantasy' with classical guitarist Nick Fletcher, which can be heard on Nick's new solo release 'Cathedral of Dreams' which Dave also produced.



Dave and his wife Debbie also run the 'Open Sky' record label and 'Open Sky Studios'



“The effect is at times stunning, as huge ethereal soundscapes -

the foundation stone of which is Dave Bainbridge’s haunting choice

of keyboard washes - rise up from the hi-fi speakers.”

Cross Rhythms



"To my ears this is the most successful album of this type since Mike Oldfield’s masterpiece Ommadawn. Stunning." www.progressiveears.com



“Sitting here stunned after my first full listen to Veil Of Gossamer, I’ve not the command of words to convey the true gratitude to Dave Bainbridge for what has instantly become one of my favorite recordings of all time.” Kenneth L. Solomon - Progressive Soundscapes Radio



“.a sonic masterpiece . Bainbridge has given us what is in my humble opinion one of the best albums ever to be recorded . some of the best music that he has ever written.”

Chris MacIntosh aka Grandfather Rock www.tollbooth.org