If there is any artist that can testify to both the triumph and the treachery of the music industry, it is singer / songwriter Dave Hollister. Over a career that started in the late ‘80s, he has worked with some of the biggest artists in Gospel (Yolanda Adams, Daryl Coley, and Vanessa Bell Armstrong), R&B (Patti LaBelle and Mary J. Blige), Hip-Hop (Redman and Father MC) and Pop (Tom Jones and Bruce Hornsby); as well as contributed to a number of film soundtracks (including The Prince Of Egypt, The Brothers, and Baby Boy). Hollister has also been a member of super producer Teddy Riley’s multi-platinum selling vocal group, BLACKstreet (he sang lead on their monster hit, Before I Let You Go) and recorded four solo CDs, the second of which, "Chicago ’85… The Movie", was a Gold-seller on the strength of the hit single, One Woman Man. Music fans have been good to Hollister, but he has too often been done dirty by the sharks that infest the music biz.
After taking a hard look at his life, his calling, and his blessing as an artist who can truly affect people with the things he sings and writes, Dave Hollister is embarking upon a profound shift in the music he makes. This new beginning is marked by his fifth project, "The Book Of David: Vol.1 – The Transition". For those not acquainted with Hollister as an artist or a man, much of what you need to know about this album is right there in the title…
The Book of David means that the album, like his previous ones, is largely autobiographical, reflecting things he has lived, felt, seen, and deems pertinent to light life’s path for others. Transition means that this is a work from a man at a crossroads. Therefore it is not a traditional gospel or inspirational album. Hollister is not so presumptuous as to make a pure praise album yet – because so many people only presently know him as a secular R&B star. More importantly, people who really know Hollister understand that he remains 100% true to self at all times. That includes a blunt honesty about his past as well as his present. In that spirit, "The Book Of David: Vol.1 – The Transition" is as much a purging for himself as it is for those going through the same challenges he’s faced across his storied life. "I don’t know of any other way to put my life out there," Hollister states, "because it’s going to help people. God has really blessed me."
"My album is aimed at the audience I already have, " he continues, "I talk about things church people either hide from or act like they don’t deal with; and the beats are as hard as anything from my first solo album, Ghetto Hymns. (Producer) Mike City hooked me up with a track called Nothing But God that’s so ghetto, it sounds like something Mobb Deep would do! Vickie Mack Lataillade (CEO of GospoCentric) always wanted to present an album like this, but nobody could really do it. When I came to her with "The Book Of David: Vol.1 – The Transition", she was a little fearful, but she wanted to push the envelope. She just asked one thing: ‘Give me a song I can take to traditional gospel radio.’ "
That one song became The Potter (A.K.A. Jesus Picked Up The Pieces), a classic that Hollister believes his favorite singer of all-time, Donny Hathaway, would have done. "It’s got a slow, takin’-my-time-with-it kind of tempo," Hollister explains, "like a cross between Donny’s We Need You Right Now and To Be Young, Gifted, & Black. It’s an old O’Neal Twins song that Andrae Crouch wrote. I’ve been a fan of the O’Neal Twins since I was a kid. (Producer) Shep Crawford put a new arrangement on it for me and I knew exactly what to do with it. Once I gave her that, Vickie let me do the rest of the album my way."
The roots of Hollister’s life turn and a subsequent CD came after a New Year’s 2004 show he did in Dallas with his friend, R&B singer / songwriter, Tank. "The whole hotel was sold out and we were playing in the main ballroom, but after the show, the promoter ran off with the money. I had to go home to my family with not a penny to show for why I wasn’t home that holiday. This wasn’t the first time this kind of thing had happened to me and I couldn’t take it no more. I got on my knees and asked God to deliver me from this situation. "
Systematically, Hollister’s whole life began changing before his eyes. He dropped his management company and he asked for a release from his secular recording contract with Dreamworks / Geffen / Interscope. Sadly, on tax day of 2004, his divorce from his wife also was finalized. By June of 2004, Dave moved from Los Angeles back to his mother’s house in Chicago. A 35 year-old man then, Dave immediately began mending his relationship with God.
"My brother-in-law, Jessie Wright, was instrumental in bringing me back to church," Hollister witnesses, "the Showers of Blessings Deliverance Center on the south side of Chicago. Jessie is the Assistant Pastor under his father. That church is a magnet for young people on fire for God. When we weren’t in church, we were in my sister’s basement just writing. Songs were coming to me in like 15 minutes! I knew that was nothing but God. Before I even signed to GospoCentric, we had completed 22 songs."
Among his outpouring of new songs that includes So ManyScars, Questions, Reach Out To Me, and I’ve Changed are the heartbreakingly detailed Divorced and The Settlement which take the listener through the rollercoaster of emotions at hand when a couple decides they can no longer live as one. "I wrote Divorced without a pad or pencil, " Hollister confesses, "I went to the mic and that song basically just came out. My divorce resulted from things we did that we could not come back from. You never go into marriage thinking that’s going to happen. I was a struggling background singer when I met her. We were together 14 years – she was there through it all for me. To not have her be a part of my life now hurts. But she’s had a baby by another guy, and God has sent me someone else that I’m extremely happy with. We’re still friends."
Other highlighted songs from "The Book Of David: Vol.1 – The Transition" address issues that recent and/or recommitted Christian deal with as they strive hard to take a closer walk with God. As always, Hollister does not sugarcoat the process. "I’m a new Christian," Hollister explains, "and still struggling with some things. I’m gonna need God to help me, to me, there isn’t any reason to explain that. This album is gonna take people by surprise. My old fans will accept and understand these songs more than the ones I prepared specifically for Gospel radio like What Do You Do. Perhaps strongest of all is the Warryn Campbell produced, Help Me. That’s the song I want to be the first single. It’s one of the most real songs on the CD; " Hollister affirms, "the verse says ‘I’ve been living this life for a long time and I still ain’t got it all down / Never claimed to be the one that’s always right / Truth is it’s getting real hard and there’s some things I don’t understand / It ain’t easy living this way / Believe me I’ve tried / What’s wrong with clubbin’ on the weekend / Or missin’ church if I wanna sleep in / And if I take a drink, I gotta sneak / Is that the way it is or is it just me.’ Then the chorus says, ‘Lord, help me / I’m just trying to understand / Lord, help me / I don’t want to be wrong again / Lord, help me / Everyday I’m struggling / But if You help me I’ll make it through to live another day for You.’ Like the Bible says, ‘These things come out only through fasting and praying.’ You don’t get over some things right away. That’s why I put it out there the way I do. In the Bible, Paul reminds us that you’ve got to crucify the flesh DAILY. It ain’t like you get up and don’t struggle! Put it like this: I know what my audience likes and I know what my audience needs."
Dave Hollister’s life experience and creative energies will be put to even more use as he takes on another new responsibility as minister of his church. "I was first called to be a minister when I was 17, " Hollister shares, "but I was in the streets bangin’ then – running from it. I finally decided a year ago to accept it once I came into the full knowledge of my relationship with God. While I was in the industry, God kept me from getting into a lot of things other guys I was around fell into. People tried to put drugs on me, but I didn’t take ‘em. I’ve escaped death. I can’t go back into that life."
Hollister has also made his mark in musical plays such as Wicked Ways, Only The Strong, Come Out Of The rain, A Fool and His Money, and most recently, Issues: We All Got ‘Em, which he will go back out with in October adding a couple of choice songs from his new CD to the script. One substantial sacrifice Hollister will have to make now that he is born again is giving up performing all of his R&B hits – songs that are still loved by fans to this day. "That’s a little tough because those songs made me who I am, Hollister laments, "but I’m a minister now and I will not go back on my word to God. There is one song I will continue to sing, though, and that’s Destiny. It sounds like something I wrote to a woman, but I was really thinking about my daughter, Lequesha, who I didn’t have a relationship with. She’s 17 now and does praise dancing. I’m going to put her in my show, singing the song to her while she dances. When I go on tour, my show will be kinda like a play telling a story that takes you on a path. "
Artist Professional Life: 1999 – Present (as a solo artist)
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