David Love has been a subscriber to Toronto Moon Magazine since near the very beginning and is proud to support the only magazine to consistently write about the live music scene in the GTA for over 21 years.

While some fans of smooth Pop and melodic Rock from the music’s heyday of the 60s and 70s are occupied posting nostalgic photos of their idols on social media, versatile singer and multi-instrumentalist David Love is busy keeping the music alive and fresh by playing it to appreciative throngs in clubs, arenas, casinos and at private functions.

A veteran of the Canadian Pop Rock scene, David has recorded albums and toured with Randy Bachman‘s bands, been a long-time member of Burton Cummings‘ touring group, a 20-year member of The Carpet Frogs A-list club band and a key part of the Classic Albums Live musical theatre troupe.

But last year he moved out of the sidecar and to the front of the stage in two combos of his own. He’s decided to forego any more shows with Cummings and to leave the Frogs because “it’s a time in my life where I want to break out of the grind and play the music I love for people who really appreciate it.

“I also want to be able to spend more time with my family by doing more shows closer to home. It’s exciting going on tour but I won’t miss the stress and the time away from loved ones.”

Fortunately, his acoustic Love & LeBlanc duo and self-titled new David Love Band trio are getting rave reviews from clubs across the GTA since he began focusing on doing his own thing in 2012.

He sings and plays deft guitar with Brian LeBlanc in the duo, while doing vocals and bass playing in his trio with guitarist Darrell McNeill and drummer Kevin Mulligan. Both combos deliver Pop Rock with a melodic sound and high-energy beat, leading audiences to tap their toes, snap their fingers or jiggle their bones on the dance floor.

The repertoire of the two units ranges from light Pop from the Summer Of Love era by the likes of Simon & Garfunkel and Chad & Jeremy through super-melodic heavier beat tunes by Baby Boom favourites such as The Beatles, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, Cream, The Who, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Tom Petty, ZZ Top, The Who, The Byrds and many more.

His affection for that era of music is why he plans to continue as a member of Classic Albums Live, the hugely successful series of concerts produced by Craig Martin at which an orchestra of all-star musicians render classic albums note-for-note in a theatrical environment.

“I love playing that music and to be with so many other talented performer recreating it note for note is very fulfilling,” he says, adding that “I’ll also still be available for some studio work with folks like Randy if he needs me.”

It wouldn’t be a big surprise if he were to get a call from Bachman, who calls David Love “my first choice for super solid guitar playing and vocal back up on any rock band I put together,” adding that “my times onstage and in the studio with him have all been memorable and tons of fun.”

Those times have included performing in some pretty rarefied company, with the Bachman-Cummings Band when it opened for Bon Jovi, Elton John, Grand Funk and Moody Blues, with Bachman at Live 8 in Barrie and with Cummings when people like Kim Mitchell, Shakira and Wyclef Jean were openers, to name just a few of the salient moments from the past few decades.

Playing professionally for nearly 40 years, David has toured the U.S. and Canada extensively and appeared on television, radio and at festivals, concert halls and arenas for a wide range of public and private functions –including at an airfield in Kandahar entertaining 5,000 NATO troops.

While it’s likely most of the fans who groove to the Love & LeBlanc duo or David Love Band in lounges, bars or at private functions won’t really be aware of the musical pedigree of the man who’s driving those two units, its authenticity gets displayed in the results every time he performs.

For whether they realize it or not, when it comes to putting forward a great melodic Pop Rock musical experience, Love is indeed all you need.