Biography
San Francisco psychedelic folk-rock outfit It's a Beautiful Day served chiefly as the creative outlet for master violinist David LaFlamme, who entered the world on April 5, 1941, in New Britain, Connecticut, yet grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah. He launched his formal musical training at five, later performing as a soloist with the Utah Symphony after completing military service and relocating to the Bay Area in 1962. Once settled, he plunged into the regional counterculture circuit, trading licks with Jerry Garcia and Janis Joplin; when his fleeting Electric Chamber Orchestra disbanded, he helped launch an early version of Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks before forming It's a Beautiful Day in the middle of 1967. The original lineup featured his wife Linda on keyboards, vocalist Pattie Santos, guitarist Hal Wagenet, bassist Mitchell Holman, and drummer Val Fuentes. Their Columbia debut album arrived in 1969 and yielded the band's signature success via the atmospheric FM perennial "White Bird." Linda departed shortly thereafter to establish Titus' Mother, after which keyboardist Fred Webb joined for the 1970 follow-up Marrying Maiden; Holman had already exited ahead of 1971's Choice Quality Stuff, which introduced guitarist Bill Gregory and bassist Tom Fowler. Persistent royalty disagreements in 1973 pushed LaFlamme from the ensemble he had founded, prompting the remaining musicians to recruit violinist Greg Bloch and release It's a Beautiful Day...Today before the unit collapsed following 1974's 1001 Nights. LaFlamme began a solo trajectory in 1977 with the album White Bird and sustained extended litigation against former manager Matthew Katz in the ensuing years. David LaFlamme passed away on August 7, 2023, at age 82.
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