David Vest

David Vest was born on November 2, 1943, in Huntsville, Alabama, and grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, near Tuxedo Junction. He learned to play on a used piano his grandmother had delivered to their house in West End. He played his first paying gig at the age of 14, and has worked professionally as a pianist since 1957. On New Year's Day 1962, he opened for Roy Orbison. He backed Big Joe Turner in the 1960s and later toured with Jimmy T99 Nelson, Floyd Dixon, and Lavelle White, as well as the rockabilly group Bill Black's Combo. From 2002 through 2006, he was co-leader of the Paul deLay Band, reaching the Top Ten on Billboard's national blues chart. Vest currently lives in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and is signed to the Canadian independent label, Cordova Bay Records. He met a Canadian woman and married her, planning to stay in Canada whether his career worked out or not. Vest is a six-time winner of Canada's national Maple Blues Award for Piano Player of the Year. He wrote the first songs ever recorded by Tammy Wynette, and his tunes have been covered by artists including the Downchild Blues Band. In 2014, he released "Roadhouse Revelation," which went to Number One on the Roots Music Report chart for Canada. David Vest is regarded as "one of the greatest living boogie-woogie piano players" and continues to perform regularly, particularly at Hermann's Jazz Club in Victoria, BC. His exceptional piano skills, authentic blues sensibility, and decades of experience have made him a treasure of Canadian blues music.

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