DAVID NICHTERN BIO
David Nichtern is a songwriter, record producer, guitarist, and composer for film and television. A four-time Emmy award-winner and two-time Grammy-nominated composer, he is widely known for his classic song, “Midnight at the Oasis”.
David began playing guitar when he was eight, composing in his teens, and working as a professional musician while still in college at Columbia University, where he had a rock band called Voltaire’s Nose with lifetime friend, Christopher Guest.
Throughout a diverse and colorful career, he has collaborated with a wide range of artists including Jerry Garcia, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Christopher Guest, Lana Del Rey, Brand New Heavies, Maria Muldaur, The McGarrigles, Patti LuPone, David Bromberg, Dr. John, Sultan Khan and Krishna Das.
In 1990, David teamed up with colleague Suzanne Ciani to compose the music and title theme for the ABC daytime classic One Life to Life, and continued as OLTL’s principal composer and music producer until the show went off the air in 2011. David also wrote title themes and underscore for CBS’ As the World Turns, as well as the score and title song for Christopher Guest’s film The Big Picture, starring Kevin Bacon and Martin Short.
In 1995, he worked with legendary bass player Will Lee (David Letterman Show) to produce his own solo debut, “From Here To Nichternity” – a diverse and colorful collection of pop/jazz stylings, featuring several duets with sax great Michael Brecker.
Under the banner of his Dharma Moon record label, David created and produced many fine music offerings for yoga and meditation. His band Drala, created with bansuri flute master Steve Gorn, is featured on this label. David also co-produced Grammy nominee Krishna Das’ “All One” with Walter Becker, and created an acoustic Americana album “Memories of Summer as a Child” by The Beyman Brothers (featuring Christopher Guest, CJ Vanston and Nichtern). He also played guitar on and produced Krishna Das’ noteworthy “Heart as Wide as the World”, released in 2010, and “Kirtan Wallah”, released in 2014. He has toured with KD around the world over the past decade.
