Dave Zimmer
A music journalist and rock historian since the late '70s, Dave Zimmer is the author of Crosby, Stills & Nash: The Authorized Biography (St. Martin’s Press, 1984; Da Capo Press, 2000; Da Capo Press, 2008) and editor of 4 Way Street: The Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Reader (Da Capo Press, 2004), a book which features interviews with CSN&Y, individually and collectively, by such writers as Ben Fong-Torres, Cameron Crowe, Ellen Sander, Joel Selvin, Roy Carr, Ritchie Yorke, Lenny Kaye, Jaan Uhelszki, Peter Knobler, Penny Valentine, Vicki Wickham and Dave himself, among others.
Dave also wrote articles for Creem, Hit Parader, Music + Sound Output, Good Times ( Santa Cruz , CA ), and the Peninsula Times-Tribune, among other US publications. After interviewing Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and David Crosby extensively in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, he became Crosby, Stills & Nash’s biographer in 1982. The third edition of his CSN book was published in 2008, redesigned and fully updated, featuring more than 300 photographs by Henry Diltz.
Beyond his music writing and editing, since 1990 Dave has worked as a communications director for MCA Records, Universal Studios, Seagram, Vivendi and, most recently, Penguin Group. A native Californian, Dave currently lives in West Orange , New Jersey with his wife and son.
List of articles in the library by artist
10,000 Maniacs: At Least Six Are Not Insane
Profile and Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, February 1986
JAMESTOWN, NEW York, about 400 miles from NYC, is home for 10,000 Maniacs. ...
Cindy Lee Berryhill: Beat Wise
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, March 1988
ONCE UPON a time Cindy Lee Berryhill tried to make it as a Top 40 singer in San Diego. ...
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, April 1979
LOS ANGELES – Ambitious, blunt but expressive, forceful, aggressive when the occasion requires it, capable of manic dedication and drive towards work and life goals...a ...
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, December 1986
NO ONE will ever accuse Peter Case of being a schemer or a planner. "When it comes to building a career," admits the 32-year-old singer/songwriter, ...
Rosanne Cash Comes Into Her Own
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, April 1981
COTATI – LONESOME steel guitar moans waver and echo throughout the Inn of the Beginning – a classic Old West watering hole 50 miles due ...
Ry Cooder: Fascinatin' Rhythms
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, February 1988
FIVE YEARS may have passed since Ry Cooder last put together an album of non-movie music, but it's not as if the guy has been ...
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, January 1987
THE FIRST thing you notice is the twinkle in his eyes. That is the clearest signal that David Crosby is, indeed, back among the living. ...
Crosby Stills and Nash: Crosby, Stills & Nash: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
Report and Interview by Dave Zimmer, Hit Parader, October 1982
INSIDE DEVONSHIRE Studios in North Hollywood, California, Graham Nash puts one of the tape machines into reverse. "Grrp Wrr, Grrp Wrr," the machine moans. ...
Crosby Stills and Nash: Crosby, Stills & Nash: Together Again
Report and Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, July 1982
CLOSED SESSION No Admittance – these words are scrawled on the door of Studio 2 on the Zoetrope film lot in Hollywood. A young woman, ...
Dire Straits, Notting Hillbillies, The, Mark Knopfler: Mark Knopfler: Going His Own Sweet Way
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, April 1990
NO, THE Notting Hillbillies are not Mark Knopfler's version of the Traveling Wilburys. In fact, there was never supposed to be a band at all. ...
Desert Rose Band, The, Chris Hillman: The Desert Rose Band: Chris Hillman's Hot Burrito #3
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, December 1988
ROCK IS no longer the dirty word it once was in Nashville. But after LA's Desert Rose Band placed four singles on the country charts ...
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, October 1987
Fleetwood Mac Swap Partners For Tango Tour ...
John Lee Hooker: King of the Boogie
Interview by Dave Zimmer, Buzz, November 1985
JOHN LEE Hooker is a prideful man. When he looks back over his lengthy blues career – more than five decades old now – he ...
Jeff Blackburn, The Ducks: Jeff Blackburn Bucks the Odds
Report and Interview by Dave Zimmer, Good Times, June 1978
QUACK, QUACK: A familiar sound last summer in Santa Cruz when the Ducks were the musical hit of the town. But as the summer of ...
Jefferson Starship: Return of The Band That Will Not Die
Report and Interview by Dave Zimmer, Creem, November 1981
YOU CAN'T last any longer than the Jefferson Starship, a band that's been at the top of the charts with regularity since, unbelievably, 1966. ...
Jefferson Starship: The Starship Strikes Back
Profile and Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, December 1985
"Say ya don't know me?Or recognize my face?...Don't you remember?We built this city on rock and roll!"– from 'We Built This City'by Bernie Taupin, Martin ...
David Johansen, Buster Poindexter: David Johansen: Buster Poindexter Does L.A.
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, January 1988
"I LOVE L.A.," announces Buster Poindexter, fingering the stem of a martini glass. "I think it's great." And why shouldn't he? ...
Tom Johnston, Doobie Brothers: Tom Johnston: The Former Doobie Still Listens To The Music
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, October 1979
THE YEAR was 1972. Summer had waned and I was driving along Highway 101, with the only source of music being a static-laden AM car ...
KBC Band, The: Kantner Balin Casady Band: Old Flight Mates Carry On
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, December 1985
"WE DON'T play many tapes submitted by unsigned bands," said KFOG DJ John Russell on the air a couple of weeks ago. "But I think ...
KCB Band, The: Kantner-Balin-Casady Band: Old Flight Mates Carry On
Profile and Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, December 1985
"WE DON'T play many tapes submitted by unsigned bands," said KFOG DJ John Russell on the air a couple of weeks ago. "But I think ...
Mark Knopfler, Randy Newman: Randy Newman And Mark Knopfler: Newman's Navigator to A Land of Dreams
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, October 1988
'IT'S MONEY That Matters', the first single from Land of Dreams, bristles with guitarist Mark Knopfler's trademark guitar licks, Randy Newman a la Dire Straits' ...
Danny Kortchmar, Don Henley, Crosby and Nash: Danny Kortchmar: The Standup Rocker
Interview by Dave Zimmer, Record, The, March 1983
"I HATE folk music, I always have," snaps Danny Kortchmar. Such a revelation is surprising, in view of the fact that Kortchmar (aka "Kootch") has ...
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, June 1989
WELCOME TO the Griffith Park Pony Rides. Assorted toddlers, most of them 2- or 3-something, are circling a dusty track, strapped onto tired ponies. Not ...
Cyndi Lauper Bops Through The Night
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, January 1985
PADDING SLOWLY through Burbank Airport, clutching a grey handbag and a Walkman cassette player, Lauper, at first glance, resembles a simple immigrant from "the old ...
Randy Meisner, Eagles, The: Randy Meisner: Ex-Eagle Flies High Solo
Profile and Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, November 1980
DURING THE FRANTIC throes of the late '60s, this city devoured more musicians than it rewarded. The situation hasn't changed much since. But back in ...
Missing Persons: Found In L.A.
Profile and Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, November 1982
I MUST CONFESS something. Before even having heard Missing Persons produce a single note, I was attracted to the group because of a photograph I'd ...
Joni Mitchell: Wild Things Run Fast
Review by Dave Zimmer, BAM, December 1982
JONI MITCHELL'S in love. At least she was while writing and recording Wild Things Run Fast. You can hear it in the loose and easy ...
Motels, The: The Dual Life Of Martha Davis
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, November 1993
TAKE MARTHA DAVIS, the sultry, dark-eyed leader and lead singer of the Motels. Last year, her band's third album, All Four One, went Top 20 ...
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, February 1980
INTEGRITY, MORE than any other word seems to define what Graham Nash is all about. ...
Randy Newman: A Nightmare on Main Street
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, October 1988
RANDY NEWMAN was sitting in the Forum Arena in Inglewood a while ago, watching the Lakers put on yet another basketball clinic at the expense ...
Alan Parsons: The Alan Parsons Project: Studio Rats
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, April 1986
"You know Poe has been a big influence on me and Alan," says Parsons collaborator Eric Woolfson. "And when I saw this word, 'stereotomy,' I ...
Joe Perry, Aerosmith: Joe Perry: Joe Perry Project Takes Off
Interview by Dave Zimmer, Creem, August 1980
My brand new ship is stellar boundTo search out a place I've never foundWhere I go only time will tellThere's a lot of space betweenHeaven ...
Pretenders, The: Spending Time With The Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, August 1984
THE PRETENDERS have landed in Pittsburg. It's a Monday night, about 9 pm, and Chrissie Hynde is bored. ...
Stan Ridgway: Drawing Mosquitos With An Eye For Detail
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, October 1989
STAN RIDGWAY is a great painter of life. Rather than oil or water colors, however, his medium has always been the English language. He creates ...
Robbie Robertson, Band, The, Bob Dylan: Robbie Robertson: Between Trains
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, May 1983
QUALITY IS something that Robbie Robertson definitely understands. ...
Todd Rundgren: In Todd We Trust
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, June 1990
FOLLOWERS OF Todd Rundgren may not get as much publicity as Deadheads, but the loyal legions that flock to Rundgren's concerts – particularly in the ...
Grace Slick, Jefferson Starship: Grace Slick: Making Her Own Dreams
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, August 1980
MILL VALLEY – "I can't do anything middle of the road. My music is either very polite, with classical instruments, or, its rude and offensive." ...
Bruce Springsteen, Nils Lofgren: Nils Lofgren: The E Street Flip
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, November 1985
NEW JERSEY – There he is, taking windmill swipes at his guitar with wild abandon, then doing a complete flip on the Meadowlands stage while ...
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, April 1979
LOS ANGELES – Ambitious, blunt but expressive, forceful, aggressive when the occasion requires it, capable of manic dedication and drive towards work and life goals… ...
Al Stewart: A British Eccentric Finds A House In Bel Air — And A Home
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, March 1989
SINGER-SONGWRITER Al Stewart has a theory about why he'll never sell as many records as Lionel Richie or Billy Joel. ...
George Thorogood & The Destroyers: George Thorogood Cuts Through The USA
Interview by Dave Zimmer, Creem, February 1982
YOU COULD see it coming. About a hundred yards off, an old Checker Marathon cab was roaring along the asphalt, eating up the broken white ...
Traveling Wilburys, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Tom Petty: Once In A Full Moon
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, May 1989
BY THE time Tom Petty became a Traveling Wilbury last year, he had every reason to stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Roy ...
Van Halen: Tales From The Crypt
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, July 1988
THE ITINERARY for Van Halen's Monsters of Rock Tour reads like a combined schedule for the Washington Redskins and University of Miami football teams. ...
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, February 1982
Everybody looked like a broken-down movie extra; a withered starlet, disenchanted stuntmen, midget auto racers, poignant California characters with their end-of-the-continent sadness, handsome, decadent, Casanova-ish ...
Tom Waits: Hollywood Confidential
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, February 1982
LA's Hobo Laureate Creates the Score for Coppola's One From the Heart. ...
Was (Not Was): Spies In The House Of Funk
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, December 1988
MASTERS OF funkified musical left turns, that was one way to describe Was (Not Was) after listening to their 1983 LP, Born to Laugh At ...
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, January 1990
WAKING UP before noon is still a foreign idea to many working musicians, and not just the ones who are hopeless drug addicts. It's just ...
Whitesnake, Steve Vai: Steve Vai: Vaiing For Attention
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, January 1990
NO, YOUR eyes aren't deceiving you. Steve Vai is holding a seven-string guitar, custom-made for him by Ibanez. ...
Neil Young: Blue Notes for a Restless Loner
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, April 1988
THE ROBERT De Niro of rock 'n' roll, Neil Young has continually transformed himself throughout his career and inhabited musical characters in much the same ...
Neil Young, Crazy Horse: Crazy Horse: In Full Gallop
Profile and Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, January 1979
SAN FRANCISCO – During the past several years Billy Talbot, Ralph Molina, and Frank Sampedro played before standing room only crowds in some of the ...
back to LIBRARY
Best Databases: RBP is Runner-up in Best Niche category
Video: Johnny Marr talks about Rock's Backpages
download eBooks and audio interviews
RBP on Spotify: The genius of Judee Sill
RBP Album Club in Chicago, June 30th: Paul Yamada and Liam (Plush) Hayes celebrate a Curtis Mayfield classic
Essential Listening: Roy Trakin meets the Replacements in '87
Essential Reading: Andrew Smith's history of the first dotcom boom
RBP Album Club, July 11th: Nick Hornby and Nick Coleman celebrate Southside Johnny's debut
Join the Facebook group now