Author Bio
For more than a decade, DAVID LEAF has been an award-winning television writer/producer/director best known for his work on acclaimed pop culture programs, music specials and retrospectives. Among his recent productions are The Songwriters Hall of Fame [Bravo], An-All Star Tribute To Brian Wilson [TNT], "Billy Joel: In His Own Words" [Emmy nomination for Best Performance in a Variety Special], The Bee Gees: This Is Where I Came In, [A&E], "The Score" [Trio] and for PBS, "When I Fall In Love: The One & Only Nat King Cole," "Vintage Sinatra" and "Sinatra: The Classic Duets". Since 2001, Leaf has also been the consulting producer for A&E's acclaimed "Live By Request" series.
Perhaps most notably, his credits include being one of the Emmy-nominated writers on the landmark telethon "America: A Tribute To Heroes," [for which he earned a Peabody Award and the show received an Emmy Award for Best Variety or Music Special]. For five years, Leaf was a profile producer for Disney's Salute To The American Teacher, and he wrote and directed the filmed segments for "Christopher Reeve: A Celebration Of Hope," helping the program earn an Emmy-nomination for "Best Variety Special". For nearly twenty years, Leaf has been a writer on The Vision Awards.
As a writer, Leaf has also worked on such "event" specials as The Kennedy Center Honors [CBS], Farm Aid [CMT], Carnegie Hall Salutes The Jazz Masters [PBS], The Billboard Awards [Fox-nine years], The Television Academy Hall Of Fame [CBS], The Creative Arts Emmy Awards [Fox] and Elvis: The Tribute [ABC]. He served as an historical consultant on Time-Life's The History Of Rock 'n' Roll, and for three years, he wrote and co-produced The Salute To The American Songwriter. Other noteworthy programs on his resume include writing and producing You Can't Do That: The Making Of 'A Hard Day's Night', producing and directing Lassie Unleashed [ABC], and writing/producing The Unknown Peter Sellers [AMC], Bob Hope: The Road To Laughter, Jimmy Durante: The Great Schnozolla, Jonathan Winters: On The Loose & Dean Martin: That's Amore, MWAH: The Best Of The Dinah Shore Show, Happy Holidays: The Best of the Andy Williams Christmas Shows [PBS], Martin & Lewis: Their Golden Age of Comedy and The Unknown Marx Brothers [The Disney Channel] and writing Gilda Radner's Greatest Moments [ABC]. Coming in December, 2003 are Smart TV: The Best of Jack Paar [PBS] and a two-hour A&E Biography event special about Andy Williams.
Beginning as a news and sports writer/producer for New York area television stations, and later, briefly, for ESPN, Leaf moved to Los Angeles where he worked on a number of classic television specials including Sinatra & Friends. Eventually, he played key creative roles in a wide-range of comedy (staff writer on the sitcom, The New Leave It To Beaver), music/variety (Solid Gold, The Party Machine & The Spirit of Rock 'n Roll) and informational programming (National Public Radio's 20th Anniversary, Together For Our Children, Stevie Wonder of Sight Night, Musicares' Stevie Wonder tribute).
As an author, Leaf has written three biographies (including the best-selling authorized biography of the Bee Gees and the ground-breaking Brian Wilson biography, The Beach Boys & The California Myth). In association with the Director's Guild of America, he researched and edited a textbook called Producing & Directing Live TV. Leaf also edited a book-length history of A&M Records and wrote the Beatles and Beach Boys chapters for Capitol Records 50th anniversary book,
For the music industry, he has served as a project consultant for Warner Records, co-produced the successful video series Grammy's Greatest Moments and has written liner notes for many successful CD re-issues. Among his credits are liner notes for the award-winning re-issues of Pet Sounds and the "Good Vibrations" box set, which he co-produced. He also wrote the books for and produced The Pet Sounds Sessions box set, for which he received a Grammy nomination for "Best Historical Recording." For his work on these re-issues, Leaf has also won the "Q" Magazine Recorded Music Award (1990 & 1993) twice.
Leaf is a member of such nationally prestigious institutions as the Writers Guild of America, The Authors Guild, The Society of Professional Journalists, The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences [NARAS], ASCAP, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences [ATAS] and is a voter for the annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction.