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DAVID WHITE

  Born to a show business family, Dave White toured the country as a child performing with his parents in a hand-balancing act.

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  During high school he founded the group "The Juvenaires," who were discovered while singing on the  corner by John Madara and were later known as "Danny and the Juniors," consisting of lead singer - Danny Rapp, baritone - Joe Terry, second tenor - Frank Maffei and first tenor - Dave White.

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  While with the group he co-wrote "At the Hop" with John Madara and Artie Singer, covered by, Frankie Avalon, Chubby Checker, Sha Na Na, Donny and Marie, Uriah Heep and Homer and Jethro to name a few.

 

  He then wrote "Rock and Roll is Here to Stay" for Danny and The Juniors covered by, Sha Na Na, Charlie Gracie, Tiny Tim and Jimmy and Christy Mc Nichol among others. These songs were later featured in many movies including the award-winning motion pictures "Woodstock," "American Graffiti" and "Grease."

 

  In an independent production deal with Mercury Records, John Madara and  Dave White formed Madara and White Productions and composed “You Don't Own Me" for Lesley Gore, later recorded by Joan Jett.

 

 

 

 

 

 This song was also covered by The Blow Monkeys, whose recording is included in the "Dirty Dancing" sound track album. This song is also prominently featured in "The First Wive' Club," performed by, Bette Midler, Diane Keaton and Goldie Hawn. 

 

  Moving on to Decca Records,  Dave and John wrote and produced "1-2-3" with Len Barry, later recorded by, Jan and Dean, Sarah Vaughan, Ramsey Lewis, Jimmy Smith, Percy Faith and Floyd Cramer to name a few, as well as being performed by Ewan MacGregor in The PBS DVD, "The Polar Bears of Churchill" and George Michael in the DVD, "Live in Wembley Arena."  It was then featured in the film "Mr. Holland's Opus." 

 

  Madara and White also produced the musical track and wrote "The Fly" for Chubby Checker. 

All of the aforementioned songs have achieved gold and platinum status and have also appeared in the films "American Hot Wax, " "Hairspray, " "Christine, " "Birdy, " "Mischief, " "Cuba," "Bliss" and "The Singing Detective" among others.

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  Another one of their collaborations, "Sadie The Cleaning Lady," recorded by Johnny Farnham and written with Ray Gilmore, reached number one in Australia. 

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  Dave then wrote "The Thought of Loving You" recorded by The Crystal Mansion of which he was a member. This song was also recorded by Cher, The Spiral Starecase, Astrud Gilberto, Wayne Newton, Lou Christie and The Manhattan Transfer. 

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  Dave appeared in the Columbia motion picture "Let's Rock" with Danny and the Juniors and while touring with them he had the pleasure of performing at The New York Paramount with Alan Freed and The Apollo in Harlem with "Jocko" Henderson.

 

  Some other appearances include "American Bandstand, " "Shindig, " "The Mike Douglas Show" and "The Pat Boone Show." 

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  His songs have been performed on TV shows such as; "American Idol," "Happy Days," "Laverne and Shirley," "Sonny and Cher," "Donny and Marie," "The Muppet Show," "The Mickey Mouse Club," "Entertainment Tonight," "Late Night with David Letterman," "Larry King Live," "Fame," "Oprah," "Saturday Night Live," "The Today Show," "Good Morning America," "The 69th Annual Academy Awards," "American Dreams" and "Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica."

 

  Dave has arranged and performed background vocals for Debby Boone and Bernadette Peters, appearing with Bernadette on "The Tonight Show" and "The Tim Conway Show."

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  His compositions have also aired on network commercials and in Off-Broadway shows including " The Fabulous Singlettes,"  "The Marvelous  Wonderettes," "Suds," "Behive" and "GoodRockin' Tonight" (England).

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  In 1992, as an original member of Danny and the Juniors, he was inducted into The Hall of Fame and Walk of Fame in his home town by The Philadelphia Music Alliance.

In 2003, He and his group were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in Sharon, Pennsylvania.

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  His piano on which he wrote some of his hit songs, was donated to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum located in Cleveland, Ohio.

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  Dave acted in community  theatre, scored and scripted a TV pilot of a children's show which aired on cable, directed and choreographed a music video, lectured at a community college and studied film scoring and orchestration at UCLA. 

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