David Fonseca

David loves cats. Hes got two or three at home and they keep him company when hes by himself. He listens to Jeff Buckley, B52s, Pixies, Roy Orbison and Aphex Twin. Actually, the listening list was quite long, but these 5 sum it up quite well.
David is one of the most charismatic and successful Portuguese artists to date. He founded his first band (Silence 4) in the middle nineties, which introduced his songs and voice to a larger audience. This group ended up imposing itself as the biggest and most astonishing phenomenon on the recent years of Portuguese music. In 2002, the band came to a sudden end. It was time for David to try something on his own, something a little different.
David: “I realised it was the only way to go on. I’m a big fan of great songwriters like Jeff Buckley or Tom Waits, but there’s something amazing about those classic bands like The Cars or Roxy Music that still inspire me to do music after all these years. I’m interested in songs, classic and plain songs that you can sing or dance to but, if I can, I’ll try to surprise you along the way. That’s why there are so many different sides in my music, some more sad and introspective, other more loud and agitated. I guess it reflects my own contradictions and, somewhere in between, there’s peace of mind.”
David’s music results of different influences and moods, acoustic sounds mix with a certain amount of rock and electronica, all under his songwriting skills. There is Buckley (father and son), Roy Orbison and R.E.M, but there is also The Cars, B-52’s and Roxy Music, an odd mix resulting into magnificent songs. He’s also an expressive performer and singer, known for his intense live shows.
2003 was the year for David Fonseca first solo work, “Sing Me Something New” (UNIVERSAL), where he played nearly all instruments. It reached 2 on the Sales Chart and certified Gold. The single, “The 80’s” (one of David’s biggest hits) was chosen by Vodafone to be the song for their summer advertising campaign.
In 2005, he was ready to release his second solo album, “Our Heart Will Beat As One” (UNIVERSAL). After a long time writing and composing dozens of songs, only the 11 best made it to the album.
The first single, “Who Are U?”, a mysterious song approaching a dream-pop sound, reached 3 on the airplay charts and confirmed David as one of the greatest Portuguese songwriters.
The following single, “Hold Still”, showed the crooner side of David in a duet with Rita, becoming an MTV favorite for its ground-breaking video.
The 3rd single, “Our Hearts Will Beat As One”, where we can listen to David’s influences like The Cars and Roxy Music, became a musical revolution all around and set a different tone for David’s career. The arty and film-like video, one of the most amazing videos ever done in Portugal, went straight to 1 on MTV Hit List and remained in the chart for months.
“Our Hearts Will Beat As One” was critically acclaimed by all media and was considered pop album of the year in Portugal even before the year-end. The album went straight to 1 on Sales Chart and reached Gold Status on the first week of sales.
David was recently nominated on the MTV EUROPEAN MUSIC AWARDS 2006 for BEST PORTUGUESE ACT.
David has played all the big music venues and large festivals in Portugal since he started his career. He shared stages with international names like PJ Harvey, Portishead, Placebo, Tindersticks, Rufus Wainwright, Fatboy Slim, Beth Orton, N.E.R.D and many others.
“I play a lot of different venues, from small places where I can hear the audience breathe to open air festivals with thousands of people, so these songs have to survive all the different moods that are set in each place I go. I love playing live, It’s great to see these songs transform itself according to different audiences and venues, it’s always different every time I play it.”, says David.