Dave Stewart

While Dave Stewart earned widespread recognition through his partnership in the pioneering synth-pop pair Eurythmics, he also built a thriving career as a producer and periodically stepped forward as a solo performer. Born David A. Stewart on September 9, 1952, in Sunderland, England, into an upper-middle-class household, he first tasted musical achievement in the early 1970s as frontman of Longdancer. After the band secured a deal with Elton John’s Rocket Records, momentum quickly evaporated, prompting Stewart to cycle through several short-lived ensembles before he began composing with his friend Peet Coombes. By the late 1970s he had met aspiring vocalist Annie Lennox; the pair became romantically involved and, alongside Coombes, launched the Tourists, which released three new-wave-inflected albums from 1979 to 1980.

Following the Tourists’ dissolution at the close of 1980, Stewart and Lennox ended their personal relationship yet chose to sustain their creative alliance under the name Eurythmics. Stewart’s command of technology shaped their soul-infused synth-pop framework, which Lennox’s commanding voice elevated; once the title track from 1983’s Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) achieved global success, the duo emerged among the decade’s most inventive and commercially dominant acts, delivering further hits such as 1984’s “Here Comes the Rain Again,” 1985’s “Would I Lie to You?,” and 1986’s “Missionary Man.” That same year Stewart produced Aretha Franklin’s return set Who’s Zoomin’ Who? and simultaneously oversaw Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ Southern Accents. Subsequent projects found him working with Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, and the Neville Brothers.

As the 1980s waned, Eurythmics’ commercial standing slipped; after 1989’s We Too Are One failed to restore earlier creative spark, the partnership effectively ceased, leaving only a greatest-hits collection and a live album in its wake. Stewart, who had married Bananarama and Shakespears Sister singer Siobhan Fahey in 1987, first pursued film scoring with 1989’s Dutch movie Lily Was Here. A year later he assembled the Spiritual Cowboys, featuring former Pretenders drummer Martin Chambers. Their more atmospheric, guitar-oriented approach yielded two releases—the self-titled 1990 album and 1991’s Honest—neither of which found an audience. Stewart then maintained a low profile for several years, accepting occasional production assignments while largely avoiding public attention. His first full solo outing, Greetings from the Gutter, finally appeared in 1995.

In 1997 Stewart co-produced Jon Bon Jovi’s Destination Anywhere. He resurfaced as a composer in 1999, supplying the score for Robert Altman’s Cookie’s Fortune. November 2002 brought a collaboration with former South African president Nelson Mandela, for which Stewart converted Mandela’s prison number into a working telephone line; callers could hear original tracks he had recorded with Paul McCartney, Bono, the Edge, and additional contributors, with proceeds directed toward HIV/AIDS relief in South Africa. Stewart coordinated the entire campaign with an advertising agency. Further film work followed with Jagger on the 2004 Alfie remake and with Ted Demme on 2007’s The Ref. In March 2007 he introduced the “Greenpeace Works” initiative, described as a “think tank” to explore joint efforts between celebrities and Greenpeace on environmental concerns. The accompanying volume The Dave Stewart Songbook, a large-format collection of stories and photographs, arrived with a newly recorded 21-track CD of material he had co-written or co-produced, including the track “American Prayer” composed with Bono. A video for that song was filmed in 2008 to back Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.

By 2011 Stewart had finished his musical Ghost, which premiered in England in March, and completed production on Stevie Nicks’ In Your Dreams, co-produced with Glen Ballard and issued in May. At the same time he recorded his first collection of original songs in thirteen years at Nashville’s Blackbird Studios, drawing assistance from Martina McBride, Joss Stone, Colbie Caillat, and the Secret Sisters. Released in late May, The Blackbird Diaries was tracked at the studio owned by McBride’s husband John. Stewart likewise produced and co-wrote tracks for Stone’s LP1, which surfaced that summer. Later in 2011 he joined the supergroup SuperHeavy alongside Mick Jagger, Damian Marley, and A.R. Rahman; their self-titled album appeared that fall. He returned to Blackbird Studios for the 2012 solo release The Ringmaster General. The following year brought another solo set, Lucky Numbers, again featuring high-profile guests including Martina McBride and Karen Elson. Stewart’s memoir Sweet Dreams Are Made of This: A Life in Music was published in February 2016, after which he focused on The Nashville Sessions. The first installment, The Nashville Sessions: The Duets, Vol. 1, emerged in October 2017.