David Sanborn Biography

David Sanborn was born in 1945 in Florida but grew up in Kirkwood, Missouri. An illness as a child led to a recommendation that young David learn to play a wind instrument to help bolster the strength of his lungs and chest muscles, and sax was selected as the instrument of choice. It became apparent early on that Sanborn had a natural knack for the instrument, and by the time he was a teenager, he was performing with well-known blues musicians.

By the early 1960’s, David Sanborn was serving as a studio musician for some of the biggest names in music, and he has continued to do so for the last four decades. Sanborn has provided sax music for such artists as The Grateful Dead, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, James Brown, Kenny G, Elton John, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, and Carly Simon, to name just a few. In addition to his own album releases, of which there have been many, David Sanborn has also provided sax music for a number of films, including all four Lethal Weapon films (1987-1998); Forget Paris (1995); Tequila Sunrise (1988); and Murphy’s Romance (1985); Voyeur (1981); and Double Vision (1986), the latter two garnering him Grammy Awards for his contributions. He has also been a consistent presence in television, providing key sax tracks to such shows as L.A. Law and appearing regularly as a guest musician on such shows as Late Night with David Letterman. Sanborn also hosted his own radio show throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s.

So far in his career, Sanborn has released more than twenty albums and earned six Grammys. Most recently, David Sanborn released the albums Time and the River (2015) and Bye Bye Blackbird (2016.) Both albums feature David as leader, but the latter is also a collaboration with musicians Frank Catalano and Jimmy Chamberlin.