David Cavanaugh

American composer, arranger, musician, conductor, & producer.

AKA Dave Cavanaugh; occasionally Big Dave Cavanaugh.

Born March 13, 1919 in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.

Died December 31, 1981 in Tarzana, California, USA.

Cavanugh worked as a session tenor saxophonist (and sometimes clarinet & piano), and later, as a director of A&R, producer, and president of Capitol Records.

Capitol's "house band" (Dave Cavanaugh's Music) provided musical/rhythm back-up for most Capitol and Capitol Americana records. Cavanugh became Capitol's main producer, becoming responsible for the output of top artists such as Nat "King" Cole, Stan Kenton, Peggy Lee, Kay Starr, Billy May, Sandler and Young and Frank Sinatra. Cavanaugh won a Grammy in 1959 for producing Sinatra's album [i]Come Dance with Me![/i].

One of his earlier tunes called "The Beast" showed up on the soundtrack of the David Lynch film "Mulholland Drive" in 2001.

Cavanugh was responsible for the re-recording & reissue of the TIME-LIFE series The Swing Era (15 Volumes with 3 LPs each box) together with Bill Miller. For many years, Cavanaugh served as an Artists & Repertoire man for Capitol.