Born in Glasgow on December 27, 1952 and raised in Tyne, England, David Knopfler trained at Bristol Polytechnic before taking a post as a social worker in London. There he shared living quarters with bassist John Illsley, whom he introduced to his older brother Mark; together with drummer Pick Withers the three musicians formed Dire Straits. Serving as rhythm guitarist beside Mark’s lead work, David appeared on the group’s first two albums, 1978’s Dire Straits and 1979’s Communiqué. He withdrew from the lineup during sessions for the third release, Making Movies, and received no credit on the finished record.
While Mark had written every Dire Straits song up to that point—an exception being the co-composed “What’s the Matter Baby?,” preserved on a 1978 BBC session issued in 1995—David asserted himself as a composer on his own 1983 debut, Release. Both Mark Knopfler and John Illsley contributed to the sessions. Three further solo albums followed in the same decade—Behind the Lines (1985), Cut the Wire (1986), and Lips Against the Steel (1988)—each revealing greater assurance as a writer even when glossy production sometimes obscured the material. Concurrently he began composing for stage and television productions, including the 1984 films Treffer and Shergar, Jakob hinter der blauen Tür in 1987, and Laser Mission in 1990.
The 1991 album Lifelines was tracked at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios; two years later Knopfler favored stripped-down acoustic settings on The Giver. Another collaboration with Harry Bogdanovs, Small Mercies, appeared in 1995. Although critics and dedicated listeners responded warmly to these later projects, wider public awareness remained limited. Wishbones, again co-produced with Bogdanovs, surfaced in 2001 and featured guest Chris Rea; Rea returned for 2004’s Ship of Dreams. In 2005 Knopfler issued the poetry collection Blood Stones and Rhythmic Beasts, followed in 2006 by his tenth solo album, Songs for the Siren.
Despite consistent evidence of his own songwriting ability, David Knopfler continues to be viewed largely in relation to his brother’s achievements, a circumstance his catalog nevertheless rewards closer attention.
