Early life

Dave Koz was born on March 27, 1963 in Encino, California to Jewish parents: Norman, a dermatologist and, Audrey Koz, a pharmacist. Dave has a brother, Jeff, who is also a musician, and a sister, Roberta. Although he is Jewish, Koz plays both Christmas and occasional Hanukkah songs at his concerts. He attended William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California performing on saxophone as a member of the school jazz band. He later graduated from UCLA with a degree in mass communications in 1986, and only weeks after his graduation, decided to make a go of becoming a professional musician.

Career

Within weeks of that decision, he was recruited as a member of Bobby Caldwell's tour. For the rest of the 1980s, Koz served as a session musician in several bands, toured with Jeff Lorber. Koz was a member of Richard Marx's band and toured with Marx throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. He also played in the house band of CBS' short-lived The Pat Sajak Show, with Tom Scott as bandleader. He also often guest-starred as the saxophone player on The Arsenio Hall Show in the 1980s to mid 1990s.

In 1990, Koz decided to pursue a solo career, and began recording for Capitol Records. His albums there include Dave Koz (his 1990 solo debut), Lucky Man, The Dance, and Saxophonic. Saxophonic was nominated for both a Grammy Award and an NAACP Image Award.

Koz released his second album, Lucky Man, in 1993. During production of the album in 1992, Koz was approached by the producers of ABC's General Hospital to perform on the show after his track entitled "Emily", from his Dave Koz album, was used as part of the show's soundtrack that year. After his GH appearance, executive producer Wendy Riche comissioned Koz to write a new theme song for the soap. Koz took elements from the show's existing theme song, Jack Urbont's "Autumn Breeze", and merged the chorus notes into a brand new smooth jazz composition titled "Faces of the Heart". The new theme music made its debut on General Hospital's 30th anniversary show, which aired April 1, 1993, and remained as the show's title track until August 27, 2004. "Faces of the Heart" ended up as the third track on Koz's Lucky Man album.

In 1994, Koz began hosting a syndicated radio program, The Dave Koz Radio Show (formerly Personal Notes), featuring the latest music and interviews with who's who in the genre. Dave co-hosted The Dave Koz Morning Show on 94.7 The Wave, a smooth jazz station in Los Angeles for six years. He decided to leave the show in January 2007 and was replaced by Brian McKnight. In 2002, Koz started a record label, Rendezvous Entertainment, with Frank Cody and Hyman Katz.

In 2006, Koz was selected to host a syndicated afternoon show for Broadcast Architecture's new Smooth Jazz Network. The show, based in Los Angeles, is broadcast on other Smooth Jazz stations across the country. Koz and Ramsey Lewis are the only two Smooth Jazz personalities to host two different syndicated shows during the week. Capitol Records/EMI's "Forever Cool" (2007) features Koz in a new arrangement of "Just in Time" with the voice of the late Dean Martin.

Koz has promoted annual Dave Koz & Friends Jazz Cruises since 2005.

Koz is the host of a weekly half-hour television series named Frequency put on by Fast Focus. Koz interviews musicians on the show such as Earth, Wind & Fire, Jonathan Butler, and Kelly Sweet. At the end of each interview, he plays along with the musician, adding some of his saxophone riffs to one of their hit songs.

Koz was also the bandleader on The Emeril Lagasse Show. The band, Dave Koz & The Kozmos, featured Jeff Golub (guitar), Philippe Saisse (keyboards), Conrad Korsch (bass guitar), and Skoota Warner (drums).

Koz plays a Yamaha silver alto sax (YAS-62S) with a No. 7 Beechler metal mouthpiece, a Yamaha straight silver Soprano sax (YSS-62S) or a vintage Conn curved soprano sax with a No. 8 Couf mouthpiece, and a Selmer Mark 6 Tenor sax with a Berg-Larsen 90/2 hard rubber mouthpiece. As for reeds, he uses a No. 3 Rico Plasticover.

On September 22, 2009, Koz received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In October 2010, Koz performed "Start All Over Again" in a Desperate Housewives season 7 episode "Let Me Entertain You", alongside singer Dana Glover. In July 2012, he appeared on the The Eric André Show, season 1 episode 7, and sat in with the house band.

In December 2014, he opened Spaghettini & the Dave Koz Lounge, a restaurant and live music venue located at 184 North Canon Drive in Beverly Hills, California with business partners Cary Hardwick and Laurie Sisneros, who own Spaghettini in Seal Beach.

Personal life

In an April 2004 interview with The Advocate, Koz came out publicly as gay.

Discography

Albums

Year	Album details	Peak chart positions
		Hot 200	Jazz
1990	Dave Koz	129
1993	Lucky Man	176	—
1996	Off the Beaten Path	182	—
	Live in Trinidad	—	—
1997	December Makes Me Feel This Way		—
1999	The Dance	190	3
2001	A Smooth Jazz Christmas	140	3
2002	Golden Slumbers: A Father's Lullaby	—	—
2003	Saxophonic (2003)	—	2
2005	Golden Slumbers: A Father's Love	—	—
2007	At the Movies	86	2
	Memories of a Winter's Night	—	7
2008	Masterpiece	—	—
2008	Greatest Hits	184	3
2010	Hello Tomorrow	104	1
2013	Live at the Blue Note Tokyo
	Dave Koz & Friends - Summer Horns	84	3
2014	The 25th Of December	—	—
2015	Collaborations: 25th Anniversary Collection	187	1

• A. "The Dance" also peaked at No. 67 on Billboard's Rhythm & Blues/Hip Hop Albums.
• B. "Smooth Jazz Christmas" also peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Holiday Albums.

Singles

Year	Single	Chart Positions
		U.S. Hot 100	U.S. Adult Contemporary	Jazz
1990	"Emily"	—	—	—
1991	"Castle of Dreams"	—	13	—
	"Nothing But the Radio On"	—	20	—
1993	"You Make Me Smile"	—	20	—
	"Faces of the Heart (ABC Daytime's General Hospital Theme Song)	—	—	—
1994	"Lucky Man"	—	—	—
1999	"Together Again"	—	—	—
2000	"Careless Whisper"	—	—	30
	"Know You by Heart"	—	—	26
2006	"Somewhere/Summer of '42"	—	—	—
2007	"The Pink Panther Theme"	—	—	27
	"It Might Be You"	—	—	—
	"White Christmas"	—	—	22
2008	"Life in the Fast Lane"	—	—	1
	"White Christmas" (rechart)	—	—	14
2010	"And Then I Knew"	—	—	13
	"Put The Top Down"	—	—	1
2011	"Starting Over Again"	—	—	1
	"Anything's Possible"	—	—	1

Compilation appearances

• The Weather Channel Presents: The Best of Smooth Jazz, (2007)
• Taro Gold The Diamond You, (2008)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]