David Hilker
David Hilker is an American singer, musician, songwriter, producer and music industry executive. His music is heard in network, cable and syndicated TV shows, in major and independent films, advertising campaigns, video games and on several record labels.
Biography
The son of a Lutheran minister, Hilker was born in Clarion, Iowa. His family moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa when he was three. The family was musical and David grew up singing in church choirs and listening to his older brother Fred rehearse his bands in their basement. He attended Kenwood Elementary School, Harding Jr. High and briefly Washington High School before dropping out to pursue a career in music.
After his brother played him a Jethro Tull record, Hilker picked up the flute. He landed a gig with Cedar Rapids guitar virtuosos Craig Erickson at age 14. Erickson's band recorded Craig's original songs and gigged locally. At 17 Hilker decided to hit the road. He stepped up to the mike as a lead singer (doubling on flute and saxophone) fronting numerous original and cover bands. David's bands recorded and toured extensively in the US and Canada but never achieved more than marginal regional success.
In Phoenix, Arizona, Hilker became affiliated with radio station KZZP. Working with radio personalities Jonathan Brandmeier, Bruce Kelly, Steve Goddard and Crazy Dave Otto he opened shows for America (band), Milli Vanilli, Donny Osmond, Tiffany, Mr. Mister, Buster Poindexter, Neneh Cherry, Glenn Medeiros, Apollonia, Klymaxx and many others.
Next Hilker moved to Los Angeles to work for Shore Artist Management where he performed A&R duties for the firm. The company represented the band OXO (band), an act on Geffen Records, as well as several other struggling artists.
David soon decided to head back to Phoenix to continue work on his career instead of working on the careers of others. He quickly teamed with songwriting/production partner John Costello III. The duo opened Wild Whirled Recording Studios to hone their production and engineering skills. Studio clients included DJ Z-Trip, Kristine W, Glen Campbell Music, Jeff Dayton, Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad, Poor Dad), Caroline Records, Michael Shenker, Keel (band), MasterSource Music Catalog, Network Music, OneMusic, The Hollywood Edge, Oregon Catholic Press, FirstCom Music and KTVK to name a few. He also established independent record label Fervor Records.
In 1999 Hilker and Costello signed with Fox Family Music to compose for the Fox Family Channel and FoxKids Cartoons. They created custom music libraries for countless shows on both networks. They also composed numerous title themes including Total Access 24/7, a show featuring celebrities including, Christina Aguilera, Lance Bass, Mariah Carey, Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick, Frankie Muniz, NSync, Ashley Olsen, Mary-Kate Olsen, Pink (singer), Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. They also landed the scoring gig for the animated series NASCARRacers and contributed music to the Transformers: Robots In Disguise series.
In 2002 David and John teamed with Jeff Freundlich to form the Wild Whirled Music Catalog. The catalog services the music needs of the film, television and advertising industries.
Currently David Hilker serves as CEO of Wild Whirled Music, Fervor Records, Trailerville Music and Muzik Headz all based in Phoenix, AZ.
Select discography
- Santa Hooked Me Up - B2K, Epic Records (2002) - writer
- Cooler Shade Of Jazz - John Costello III, Fervor Records (2006) - writer, musician, vocalist
- Attack of the DJ's! - DJ Jay C 3 & DJ Uff Da, Fervor Records (2006) - writer, producer/engineer, musician, vocalist
- Falling Forward - Mark Long, Fervor Records (2006) - writer
- Thi$ i$ Hip Hop Vol. 1 - Various Artists, Fervor Records (2006) - writer, producer/engineer
- Thi$ i$ Hip Hop Vol. 2 - Various Artists, Fervor Records (2006) - writer, producer/engineer
- Thi$ i$ Hip Hop Vol. 3 - Various Artists, Fervor Records (2006) - writer, producer/engineer
- Barrio Reggaeton - Morgon Butler/Jason DeRoss, Fervor Records (2006) - writer, producer/engineer
- Nu R&B - Various Artists, Fervor Records (2007) - writer, producer/engineer, vocalist
- Fervor Divas Sing The Ballads - Various Artists, Fervor Records (2007) - writer, producer/engineer, musician, vocalist
- Pure House - 2 da Groove, Fervor Records (2007) - writer, producer
- Another Day With The Blues - Hans Olson, Fervor Records (2007) - engineer
- Electric Mayhem - 2 da Groove, Fervor Records (2007) - writer, producer/engineer
- Paradise - Kathy Cushman, Fervor Records (2008) - engineer, vocalist
- Big Movies, Big Music, Vol. 4, MasterSource, (2008) - writer, producer/engineer
- Attack of the DJ's 2! DJ Jay C 3 & DJ Uff Da, Fervor Records (2009) - writer, producer/engineer, musician, vocalist
Credits
Hilker's compositions have appeared on every major US TV network including:
Current: A&E, ABC, ABC Family, AMC, Animal Planet, Bravo, CBS, CHUM Limited, Comedy Central, CTV Television Network, Discovery Channel, Disney, E!, Fox, Fox Sports Networks, Fuel TV (now Fox Sports 2), FX, Global Television Network, Hallmark Channel, HBO, HGTV, Lifetime Television, MTV, MTV2, NBC, Noggin (now Nick Jr.), Oxygen, Playboy, Syfy, Showtime, Speed (now Fox Sports 1), Spike, Style Network (now Esquire Network), Starz, TBS, The CW, TLC, TNT, Travel Channel, Univision, USA Network, VH1 and WE tv.
Defunct: Discovery Health Channel, Fit TV, Soap Opera Network, Tech TV, The WB, and UPN.
ABC
- Dancing With The Stars
- Ugly Betty
- Brothers & Sisters
- Men In Trees
- In Case of Emergency
- Freddie
- George Lopez
- Rodney
- The Drew Carey Show
- Good Morning America
CBS
- The Mentalist
- Numb3rs
- Big Brother
- Flashpoint
- Without A Trace
- Criminal Minds
- Cold Case
- CSI: Miami
- CSI: NY
- Navy NCIS
- The Unit
- Ghost Whisperer
- JAG
- The Handler
NBC
- My Name Is Earl
- The Office
- Las Vegas
- Crossing Jordan
- Surface
- Law & Order
- Law & Order: SVU
- Law & Order: CI
- E-Ring
- ER
- Scrubs
- Friends
- Medical Investigation
Fox
- House
- Standoff
- Vanished
- Reunion
- The War at Home
- King Of The Hill
- The Simple Life
- Fox NFL Sunday
- Malcolm In The Middle
The CW
HBO
OXYGEN
TLC
TV Themes
- The Chris Myers Interview, FSN
- Arena Football League, FSN
- Total Access 24/7, ABC Family
- Mark Henry's 8th theme WWE
- Brainstorm, KTVK
Films
- Preacher's Kid
- Paul Blart Mall Cop
- I Love You Man
- She's Out Of My League
- The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
- Sex Drive
- The Answer Man
- All About Steve
- Greta
- A Dog Year
- The Messenger
- Midgets Vs. Mascots
- AMREEKA
- Meet Monica Velour
- Happy Tears
- The Lost Coast
- Epic Movie
- Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
- American Wedding
- Surviving Christmas
- August Rush
- Kickin' It Old Skool
- Broken English
- Species - The Awakening
- Wieners
- Byline
- DOA: Dead Or Alive
- Thought Crimes
- Butterfly Effect 2
- Her Best Move
- Harsh Times
- Vegas Baby
- Wasabi Tuna
- Latin Dragon
- Road Trip: 24 Hours In Vegas
- Bathgate Avenue
- Nora's Hair Salon
- The Dying Gaul
Video Games
- WWE Smackdown! vs. Raw, PlayStation 2
- WWE Day of Reckoning 3, Nintendo GameCube
Major labels
Hilker's song 'Everyone's Home For Christmas' appears on Epic Records recording artists B2K release Santa Hooked Me Up
Distribution
David Hilker's music is distributed internationally by:
- Villasara Music House Italy
- Sony/ATV Music Publishing France & Belgium
- Musou Music Greece
- Boosey & Hawkes, UK
- Audio Factory Germany, Austria and Switzerland
- Wild Whirled Music North America
- 7 Out Music North America
Awards
- NASCARRacers video: Number 1 on the Billboard Special Interest Video Charts, June 30, 2001
- Two Rocky Mountain Emmy Awards
References
- http://movies.nytimes.com/person/863760/David-Hilker
- http://www.variety.com/profiles/TVSeries/main/160752/Transformers%3a+Robots+in+Disguise.html?dataSet=1
- http://www.variety.com/profiles/people/main/512158/David+Hilker.html?dataSet=1
- http://www.variety.com/profiles/TVSeries/main/158242/NASCAR+Racers.html?dataSet=1
- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1362342/
- http://ca.tv.yahoo.com/nascar-racers/show/32382/castcrew
- http://www.sho.com/site/schedules/product_page.do?seriesid=0&episodeid=7016&include=00soundtrack.inc
- http://www.linkedin.com/pub/1/763/93b
- http://www.hbo.com/sopranos/music/episode79.shtml
- http://ytv.yahoo.com/total-access-24-7/show/34259/castcrew
- http://www.variety.com/profiles/TVSeries/main/160709/Total%20Access%2024/7.html?dataSet=1
- sv:Tillfällig fru sökes
- http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1808834295
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0355836/soundtrack
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0404390/soundtrack
- http://web.archive.org/web/20071106031329/http://www.hollywood.com/celebrity/David_Hilker/3221418
- http://www.strandreleasing.com/pressroom/Presskits/DyingGaulPK.pdf
- http://www.crystalacids.com/database/title/745/transformers-robots-in-disguise/
- http://tv.yahoo.com/david-hilker/contributor/512158
- http://repertoire.bmi.com/WriterSearch.asp?blnWriter=True&blnPublisher=True&blnArtist=True&blnAltTitles=True&queryType=WriterName&page=1&keyname=hilker%20david&keyid=0&fromrow=1&torow=25
- http://web.archive.org/web/20090107013600/http://www.gabrielfleming.com/TLC/images/The_Lost_Coast_Press_Kit.pdf
- http://german.imdb.co.uk/title/tt0772178/soundtrack
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz9xYTgzqPc
- http://www.zibb.com/media/theme/person-media/David+Hilker
- http://www.tv.com/beyond-the-break/the-first-test/episode/784582/summary.html
- http://www.answers.com/topic/wwe-day-of-reckoning?cat=entertainment
- http://www.allgame.com/cg/agg.dll?p=agg&sql=1:45517~T3
- http://www.sandesta.com/public_html/tfaaz.htm
- http://www.biographicon.com/view/ej5i8
External links
- Wild Whirled Music homepage
- Muzik Headz homepage
- Fervor Records Vintage Masters homepage
- Trailerville Music homepage
- Fervor Records homepage
- Records last.fm page
- Fervor Records Facebook page
- Fervor Records Myspace page
- David Hilker at Anime News Network's encyclopedia