Look Who it Was Random video

David Berkeley - TEDxSF - Musical Performance

3,354 views · Published 2 December 2011 · 6:27 · Indexed 23 September 2026

Channel: TEDx Talks · 2011 · Nonprofits & Activism

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Before going to college at Harvard, David Berkeley spent a year as a volunteer for City Year, one of the models around which Americorps was developed.  As a corps member based in San Jose, CA, David spent the year assisting an after school program co-sponsored by the Mexican American Community Service Agency, running vacation camps for public school children, and leading a variety of city beautification projects.  

During college, David became increasingly interested in music, but he also volunteered in a Boston prison where he taught math and literacy to inmates.  After college, he held a number of writing and editing jobs for magazines, including Outside Magazine and Time Out New York.  At this point, he was living in New York City and had begun to write songs and perform concerts.  

After September 11th, David wanted to find a way to connect to his community and Brooklyn, and began teaching creative writing to middle school students in a public school in one of the toughest districts in Brooklyn.  Ultimately, he had to choose between teaching and pursuing his art, and he made a tough choice to pursue music full time.  According to David, "I don't regret the choice, as I feel my songs are the best expression of my soul, but I think about returning to teaching all the time and hope one day to get back into the classroom."  

David's has been hailed by media as "one of the most promising contemporary American singer-songwriters" and the "best of the young American songwriters."  He has recorded multiple albums -- including The Confluence, After The Wrecking Ships, Strange Light and Some Kind of Cure -- as well as published a book, "140 Goats and a Guitar," which encourages readers to move through the book to understand the stories and poetry behind his fourth studio album, Some Kind of Cure.  He has toured in support of Dido, Don Mclean, Billy Bragg, Ray Lamontagne, Rufus Wainwright, Ben Folds, Nickel Creek and many other artists.

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