George Duke
Founding Member - NETunes' Integrity Committee
Founding Member - NETunes' Talent Committee
Legendary keyboardist/composer/producer George Duke serves as a Member of NETunes' Advisory Board and is a Founding Member of NETunes' Talent and Integrity Committees.
The Integrity Committee advises NETunes' Board of Directors on all aspects of NETunes philosophy, vision, direction and execution. As of 1 January 2006, the Talent Committee will evaluate and approves all new NETunes affiliated artists, labels and releases.
A native of the San Francisco Bay area, George Duke began his musical odyssey in the Baptist church. He later attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and received his Bachelor of Music degree in 1967. He majored in trombone and composition and minored in contrabass.
He soon began playing clubs in the Bay area with a great young (but as of then unknown) singer whom the world would soon discover as Al Jarreau. Also joining the group from time to time were Jazz greats Sonny Rollins and Dexter Gordon.
George Duke furthered his formal training with a Masters Degree in composition from San Francisco State University and briefly taught a course on Jazz and American Culture at Merritt Junior College in Oakland.
The development of the George Duke Trio (with drummer Al Checci and bassist John Heard) led to collaborations with Jean-Luc Ponty, Frank Zappa, Cannonball Adderly, Nancy Wilson, Joe Williams, Dizzy Gillespie, Stanley Clarke, Billy Cobham, Flora Purim and Airto Moriera.
In the late 70's, Duke made the jump from musician to producer beginning with the Brazilian instrumentalist Raoul de Souza and then vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater. His breakthrough came with A Taste of Honey and their number one charting single Sukiyaki.
From there, Duke had hit albums and top ten singles with Jeffery Osborne including Stay With Me Tonight and On The Wings of Love and with Deniece Williams including Do What You Feel and Let's Hear It For The Boy. Other production projects included tracks for Melissa Manchester, Barry Manilow, Smokey Robinson, Phil Perry, Dianne Reeves, The Pointer Sisters, Take 6, Chante Moore, Everette Harp, Gladys Knight, Johnny Gil and Anita Baker.
Duke has served as Musical Director for The Soul Train Music Awards, The Soul Train Christmas Star Fest, The Fox Network's Burt Bacharach Special and NBC's Sunday Night Show and composed soundtracks for the feature films The Five Heartbearts, Leap Of Faith, Meteor Man, Good Fences as well as the title song for Karate Kid III.
George Duke has served as Artist in Residence at The Berklee College of Music, has several times been named R&B Keyboardist of the Year by Keyboardist Magazine and continues to produce and collaborate with artists such as Ronny Isley, Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, David Sanborn, El Debarge, Erykah Badu and Joe Sample.
