Throughout his childhood in Savannah, GA he had displayed his consummate skill as an artist, churning out poems and screenplays, and acting in numerous productions in his community. But after performing in an Army benefit while a soldier, he realized that he could actually sing. Apprehensively, on the fire escape of his West End Atlanta abode, Anthony David began the laborious task of reading chord books and finding his voice – his signature sound. Right up the street from prestigious Morehouse and Spelman Colleges, in the city too busy to hate, he struggled to find that beautiful place where instrumentation and inspiration meet.

The first person he met on his journey, India Arie (who is now signed with Motown records with a slated March 2001 debut), would soon become his sister in soul. “I was getting out of my car at the Underground in Atlanta and I saw her and her friends. We became close over the years. We liked the same music and we kinda grew together.”

Hooking up with his musical mentor and guardian angel, Lazz, helped to further cultivate David’s gift. Standing a slim 6 feet tall, Lazz is the cool cat on the corner who use to bump Stylistics tunes in an age when ‘art for art’s sake’ was an everyday thing. “Lazz gave me a $10,000 music education in three months. He set a great foundation and taught me how to learn from other people. Like an angel, whenever he was around, things just seemed to work out. I gotta keep that power in reserve.”

Five years removed from his first guitar lesson and decked out in an Adidas pullover, loose-fitting jeans, and sneakers, Anthony David looks more like a high schooler on his way to class than a seasoned soul stirrer creating underground buzz and hosting open mike nights at poet Jessica Care Moore’s storefront in downtown Atlanta. Moore, who rose to national acclaim after her poetry mesmerized the notoriously brutal Apollo audiences for five straight weeks, is creating a new Black Renaissance in the dirty south. She and her husband, poet Shariff Simmons, packed up and brought their energy to Georgia. Moore Epics has quickly become to Atlanta what the Nuyorican Café and Lennox Lounge are to New York, and David is an intricate part of the building process.

“Me and Jessica are on the same vibe – like Saul Williams and Shariff, who she published. I would go to New York and we’d run in the same circles. I had been trying to do an open mike thing, and she gave me a chance.” And he is taking full advantage of the house that Moore built. In an incense haze, sitting on stage with guitar in tow, Anthony David doesn’t just sing. He testifies. He transcends.

The best exemplar of his unique voice is the groovy plea of “Cold Turkey,” in which he employs a catchy hook as a fiending lover attempts to exorcise his love jones. The lyrics plead, “Cold turkey/ feelings don’t go away so easy/ Just a little more time/ and I swear I’ll leave you alone,” leaving audiences empathetic and mesmerized by David’s sincerity.

“Eyes Closed” is a boastful ballad of a superman lover “I can do it with my eyes closed/ ‘cause I know how to treat a women with my hands behind my back/ I can keep the good loving coming.” Another tune, “Backstreet,” is a poignant social critique that infuses the singer’s political consciousness like a millennial “What’s Going On.” David readily admits that his work is a sharp veer from Billboard’s Top 40, and credits a soulful narrator for giving him the license to do his thing.

“I am slightly to the left. I could never sing anyone else’s songs or stuff I heard on the radio. But when I was introduced to Bill Withers – as I cultivated my work – it gave me confidence and something to relate to. If he could do it like that, then I could too.”

This modern day crooner is a redeemer who belts blues with an old school sensibility, and his craftsmanship as songwriter conjures up the liberating effect of unconventional singers like Withers, Marvin Gaye, and Stevie Wonder. Yet, David is the Scottie Pippen of soul, the all around cat who is just as comfortable busting a flow as he is singing a ballad. A hip hop theologian, he blends rhymes and riffs like the ground-breaking and Bob Marley-influenced mainstream marauder, Lauryn Hill.

Like the work of all great artists, his emotional compositions detail what it is like to be human. To hurt…to love…to live. ” I like being human. Many of my songs come from everyday conversations. I soak up the influence for a little while and really don’t mess with it until it really comes. Until I feel it,” David explains. It’s this attention to detail, this respect for the craft, that sets artists like Anthony David apart from the norm. With descendants of soul like the flower child Erykah Badu and the buffed D’Angelo (and more recently, poet/vocalist Jill Scott, and funky child, Musiq) ripping billboard charts, taking home Grammy awards and thriving in the mainstream, perhaps timing couldn’t be better for Anthony David’s rise.

But David is quick to point out that soul never died. It’s recent popularity can be attributed to the consumers’ ever-evolving taste. “It’s always been there, even in the ‘80s with Prince and Cameo. People just weren’t receptive and didn’t pay attention. People are getting tired of stuff that doesn’t seem to be cared about by the people that make it. Consumers are getting smarter and demanding a better product.”

And David is right. Groups like Toni!Tony!Tone!, Mint Condition, and The Roots had been putting it down in obscure, smoke-filled, underground clubs before live music from actual bands got consumer stamps of approval. Like any other business, music is competitive, and persistence pays off. You may have to pour out your soul for years, playing small venues, sharing your gift, before industry insiders ever take notice. You might even have to play on your fire escape in front of no one, in anticipation of your big break.

The prospect of being a struggling artist was not the sexiest of career choices for David. People were unreceptive to authentic soul, yet David always believed. He put in the work. He moved beyond despair. And when asked what the secret to his growing success is, he steadfastly replies, “I loved music even when music didn’t love me.”

David has a new album slated for independent release in the spring of 2001.– The End