David Shelley was born in California with musical genes. His grandfather was famous songwriter/producer Buddy DeSylva of "Best Things In Life Are Free" fame and his mother sang in big bands with Glen Miller and Harry James and was in movies like "In A Lonely Place" with Humphrey Bogart. David spent his high school years in South Florida pounding the drum kit for various garage bands, but it wasn't until journeying to the mountains of Northern California that he took up the guitar and began singing, mentored by Jeff Savage, a musician beloved in the region. In a rite of passage familar to many, the elder artist indoctrinated Shelley with a vast collection of Chess records and folkloric knowledge, forever binding David's style to forefathers like Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf. Add influences like Jimi Hendrix and the Southern rock of the era and David Shelley's musical foundations had taken root.

Returning to Florida to found Ocean Sound Studios with childhood friend Mike Couzzi (who would go on to engineer hit albums like Santana's "Supernatural"), David soaked up even wider influences and experiences. He played percussion with jazz fusion artist Randy Bernsen and the legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius, and was guitarist, singer and songwriter with reggae band T'shan. While Shelley's long blonde hair provided a striking contrast to the group's dreadlocks, his funky blues licks melded effortlessy with the native Jamaicans' riddim. T'shan was wildly popular in local clubs and David took the sound even further with his own band, opening for everyone from The Clash to reggae star Dennis Brown, rocking the house with an ecclectic mix of worldbeat and blues roots that earned him a deal with MCA and a return to the west coast.

David Shelley finished an album's worth of material for the label, only to be dropped when A&R head Irving Azzoff was fired during the "indie" scandal of the 1980's (as depicted in the book "Hitmen" by Fredric Dannen). Despite some disillusionment, David continued to seek a deal, working the rock clubs of Los Angeles with his band Ku De Ta. When some of his unreleased recordings were chosen for a movie soundtrack, Shelley was cast to play a rock musician in Roger Vadim's remake of "And God Created Women" starring Rebecca DeMorney! Now regarded as a camp classic of the 80's, David is only marginally embarrassed by his appearance in the film. This bit of work lead to a role in music videos for Cher's "Heart Of Stone" album, including the famous aircraft carrier scene of "If I Could Turn Back Time." As the former Mrs. Greg Allman, the pop diva was no stranger to blues rock talent and drafted the guitarist to play in her touring band. Thus David performed at the 1989 American Music Awards and the 1990 and 1991 MTV Music Awards, toured the US, Canada, Australia, Ireland and the UK, and was seen by millions on cable channels like VH1.

By the time he found himself as series regular and guitarist for "The Ron Reagan Show" on Fox (a short-lived talkathon hosted by the son of president Ronald Reagan), David Shelley had gone more Hollywood that he had ever intended and soon fled to the desert in an effort to reconnect with his musical roots. Roaming the West, he hooked up with some Native American musicians in Santa Fe. Featuring members of the Apache and Zuni tribes, The Mud Ponies (sometimes called Seventh Son) played hard rocking Indian-flavored blues throughout the Southwest. David also contributed his playing to bands like Blues Farm and various album projects in California, performed on stage with Government Mule and guitarist Coco Montoya and generally honed his craft on stage and in the studio.

Homesick for family and the tropical vibes of South Florida, David Shelley returned to the area in 1996. Long time fans noted his idiosynchratic surfer-cowboy look and a deeper commitment to the blues, while new listeners were awed by a powerful player not above covering the Allman Brothers with a reggae beat or flights of knuckle-busting fantasy on the djembe drum. Assembling various line-ups of the region's best players from all genres of music, David continuously proved himself an adept bandleader and a dynamic frontman. He also joined the backup band for Native American singer/songwriter and Seminole Tribal Chairman Chief Jim Billie, once again hitting the pow wow circuit of Indian Country and even made it to Tahiti with Blues Farm! All this dues paying eventually paid off in 2003 when David Shelley was voted by local blues enthusiasts to perform at the Fort Lauderdale Blues Festival, one of the largest such events in the country.